Digimon Legends
by Nokin
Summary: While biding his time and building his power in the Dark Ocean, Daemon learns he is one of the keys to the Digital World's creation-and end. Can a new group of Digidestined stop him before it's too late? Revisions Complete!
1. Prologue

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**_Digimon Ages Part I: Digimon Legends  
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**Prologue**

You've all heard the stories, right? That show made for little kids? Well, what if I told you that those stories, those rumors, and those legends were true? You all have to know by now that something is wrong, I mean, he absorbed you all and then I reconfigured you all. But, since nobody seems to know what has happened, and since I'm trapped here forever, I'll tell you all what went down. I've got nothing but time on my hands.

First of all, my name is James Walls. I'm fifteen and the world's first human-digimon hybrid. I wasn't born this way though, at least not the first time around. I had to give up my humanity to save us all. But that's not all; I'm going to have to pay for an eternity now for my sacrifices. You see, since I'm a digimon, I have to stay in the Digital World… forever. I'm locked here for an eternity as its guardian. And since I can't die, I really am stuck in a loop. It's not all bad though; I can pull some pretty amazing tricks. But nothing can make up for being denied human contact for the rest of time.

I'll tell you what happened, but it might not all be exactly right. All I know is what happened to me, what the others told me, and what the Digi-Agents have told me. But, since they know pretty much everything that happens in the Digital World and to the Digidestined, I think I can give a pretty complete rundown. But nothing is ever really complete, and so I don't bore you, I may put in a few of my own artistic touches here and there.

The five of us; the five Digidestined; we were the hopes, dreams, and saviors of all creation. We faced despair, cruelty, death, and power beyond what any language could ever describe. This is the story of a final, desperate plan, the story of the Digi-Gods and Digi-Agents, the story of ghosts, heroes, villains, pain, joy, love, and everything between.

This is our story.

This is my story…


	2. Ch 1: Winds of Fate

**Chapter 1: Winds of Fate**

The wind tore against my hair as it raced down from the open t-tops above me. I loved racing around the back streets in the 82' Camaro my dad had recently restored, with my help of course. It had a new dark blue paint job, new upholstery, new stereo system; it had been nearly replaced. It was awesome. In it, I could imagine I was a cool hero in an action movie, with my smooth shades and black gloves on. Coupled with my dark blue jeans, my silver/white sneakers, and my white t-shirt, I felt like I was da bomb. Best of all, it was a beautiful late April day; 90 degree temperatures and not a cloud in the sky.

I rounded the corner onto my home street and began to head home. As I topped the hill before my driveway, I saw somebody walking along the road. She looked like she was an inch or two shorter than me. Her brown hair fell just past her shoulders, blowing a little in the wind. She wore a pair of Daisy-Dukes that fell over a pair of ratty looking white sneakers, and a somewhat revealing, pink tank-top. I pulled over to see who it was.

"You need a ride?" She turned and looked at me; it was a girl from my school. I saw her all the time; she had lots of friends and I always saw her in the arms of some guy.

"Sure!" I felt dizzy. I wasn't sure why. She hopped in the passenger seat and I pulled off.

"So what's your name?

"Jennifer. What's yours?"

"James. Where you headed?"

"I wrecked further back down this road," she pointed back down towards the main road and into the trees. I saw where the bushes were a little disheveled, "and started walking this way. A friend of mine lives down somewhere around here." She pointed down another road that ran into the one we were on. "Could you just take me there?"

"Sure!" I turned red. I had put a little too much excitement into it and sweat-dropped.

As we pulled off, I noticed she was shuffling around a bit in her seat. She had just been in a wreck, I wondered if anything was broken. The sun disappeared behind a cloud.

"You OK?" She looked at me with a questioning face and realized I had seen what she was doing.

"Yeah, it's just I found this thing lying in the ditch by where I wrecked." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pink and white, oddly shaped device. It looked like a hand-held computer or something; it had a small screen and two buttons, one with a left arrow, another with a right arrow. It was vaguely familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen it. "It's kind of odd. The screen glows a little whenever I touch it, see?" The device's screen had started to glow when she began to pull it out of her pocket. It was still glowing faintly. "Do you kn..."

She stopped what she was saying, threw her heads over her head and looked up. It had begun to rain and the wind was picking up, I could feel my hair blowing forward now, even though we were going forward. It would have just been a nuisance, but there hadn't been a cloud in sight just a few minutes ago. Since the t-tops were off, the rain just fell in and pelted us. I quickly pulled over and hopped out the way you see cops get in and out of convertibles in action flicks. Cool, I'd never pulled that off before.

I ran around to the trunk and pulled out one of the glass t-tops. I was about to put it on when it blew away from me. The wind was gusting now and I heard a low rumble. I had only ever heard a rumble like that once before. It was when I was six; in the middle of the night my mom, pregnant with my little brother, woke me up and told me to run with her to the basement of the house. The low rumble shook the house violently, but it held. A few seconds later we were in the basement when it hit. I still have nightmares about that.

I whipped around and looked up. A huge tornado was coming down out of the clouds, about to touchdown. Jennifer looked shocked at the tornado, paralyzed with fear.

"Come on, we gotta go!" I nearly tore the heavy door of the Camaro off and helped her out. We ran a few feet across the road and threw ourselves into the ditch near a four-way intersection. I looked up just in time to see the tornado land on top of the church that was across the street from my house. It was smashed into a million different pieces of wood and steel. I felt like I was going to be sick when I saw the bell get slung hundreds of feet down towards us. It landed in the intersection. A deep gash was carved out and sparks flew everywhere.

"AHHH!!!" We screamed together as the tornado rode across the ditch and picked us up. The weathermen on TV always said getting in a ditch was the best thing to do during a tornado, but fat lot that helped us. As we were slung through the air, we held tight to each other, spur of the moment I guess. The last thing I remember was that the device she had shown me, now attached to her shorts, was shining brilliantly and shaking violently. I squeezed tighter to her as I blacked out.

* * *

"Gilamon! Gilamon, where are you!?"

The TV was blaring as a young boy, blonde hair, blue eyes, sat glued to the screen, one of his favorite shows on. His hair was brushed down, but stuck out wildly in its own spiky fashion. He was wearing a blue sweatshirt and a brand new pair of jeans. Normally he would have been outside, but there was an unusual cold snap, 32 degrees for the high. If there were any clouds they would have dropped snow.

"Joey, honey, turn that down, I can't hear your father over it."

"But mom! This is my favorite show!"

"Turn it down or I'm turning it off. It's your choice."

The eight year old picked up the remote and turned it down, a look of disappointment coming over his face. He could barely hear the TV over his parents arguing. It wasn't violent or anything, it was that calm, low voiced kind of argument, one only done when Joey was around.

"Mom, I'm going over to Andrew's house."

"Ok honey; just remember to get your jacket."

As Joey stepped outside the cold air nipped at his face. It was freezing outside, even for New York, it was cold. He looked at the thermometer mounted beside the door to his house: 14 degrees. How could it be so cold in late April was beyond him. Joey ran down the short steps and onto the sidewalk, running over to his friend's apartment. The doors went into a large empty room with a stairway up to another apartment on the second floor, Joey's home was identical, but he lived on the first floor.

When he was almost to the stairs he tripped over something. Hitting the concrete sidewalk, tears began to well up in his eyes, but he held them off. His dad had told him boys don't cry. He looked down to see what he tripped on and saw what looked like a hand-held computer. His dad had one for his business, but it had a much larger screen, and more buttons, and a stick for using the touch screen. What had his dad called it, oh yeah, a stylus.

Joey picked it up and the screen glowed faintly. A series of ones and zeros marched across the small, screen, which was about a square inch in size. Then it showed the time for a few seconds, and went blank.

"Cool!" Joey ran up into the apartment beside his and up the stairs to where his friend lived. He knocked on the door and looked back down at the device with excitement. He hit one of the two buttons, but they didn't seem to do anything. One had an arrow pointing left, the other right, on them. Time, blank, and then blank again, and ones and zeros, and time again. The smile faded a bit, but he would figure it out later. The door opened and Andrew's face appeared.

"Hey Joey! What's that?"

"I don't know, I think it's a computer. I can't get it to work."

"Maybe I can get my mom to mess with it! She knows everything about computers." Andrew said this with pride, putting emphasis on the 'everything.' As they stepped inside, Joey looked outside the window; it was snowing.

"Look! Snow!" They lived in New York, but they still loved snow. Andrew ran around the house, looking for his mom while Joey sat down on the couch in the living room that the apartment opened into. He looked back at the device and hit the buttons again. Time, blank screen, blank screen with purple dot, ones and... wait... purple dot?

He hit the left button to go back and looked at the purple dot. It was blinking. It reminded him of the radar he had seen on TV. "I'll be outside waiting!"

"Ok!" Andrew was in his mom's room putting on his heavy coat and other warm clothes. Joey ran down the steps and out the apartment door and noticed that he purple dot was moving around the screen as he moved. It had to be radar! He looked to his right and stopped in his tracks. There was a hole in the sidewalk. It looked like a puddle, but there wasn't water in it. It looked like light had turned into water and had seeped into the hole. He walked up to the hole and looked in, it was almost too bright to look at directly and Joey had to squint.

An unknown wind blew across Joey's face. It was so cold that he thought his face had frozen. He looked down slowly, shivering, at the device and saw that the purple dot was the hole. Before he looked up, a light shot into Joey's face from the device, blinding him. "Ow!"

He stumbled around a bit, and fell in. Joey could feel the weather getting colder, and colder around him as he fell. Just as he thought it could get no colder, he blacked out, still falling.

* * *

"Come on mom, you've got to let me in! It's a hundred degrees out here! You know I'm only twelve right? I'm still a minor and this is child abuse."

"No Christopher, you are going to stay outside. Go play with your friends or something! And take off those goggles! You look ridiculous with them on your head like that! Hand them over unless you plan to go swimming." His mom pointed out the red rimmed goggles snugly fit around his head, resting on his brown hair that he never brushed. It fell into its own semi-spiky style that suited him just fine. He normally wore shorts, but since they were all dirty, he was stuck in an old pair of faded jeans. His red t-shirt had a black skateboarding logo on it.

"Fine." Chris walked away from his mom, who was standing at the front door of their house.

"Where are you going?"

"To the pool." He lied. He hated the public pool. It was always too crowded and filled with little kids who liked to use the restroom in it.

Chris walked down the street looking for things to do. His parents must have moved into the most boring suburb of Los Angeles there was, just to spite him. He wondered how anybody could make California boring; heck, they just elected Schwarzenegger for crying out loud! The heat seemed to just keep rising, Chris looked around and saw a thermometer on one of the houses; 116 degrees.

He looked up in the sky and was blinded by the sun. As he turned his head away though, he thought he saw something else. There was a small fire in the sky; it looked like a burning comet. It bothered him; it was getting bigger, faster. He thought it was still much farther away when it crashed into the street beside him. He was thrown a couple dozen feet, over a fence, and landed in somebody's backyard. He stumbled to his feet and hopped back over the wooden privacy fence. Whatever it was, it had smashed a crater the width of the street. It was at least seven feet deep, but was beginning to fill with water from busted pipes.

Chris ran over to the crater and looked in. Something in the center was glowing brightly. When it died down, he jumped in to get a closer look. He picked the glowing object up and looked at it. It was a small computer, two arrow buttons, and a screen about a square inch or so in size. It was a slightly dark red in some spots around the edges, and white everywhere else.

He picked it up and climbed out the hole. People had come out their houses thinking something had blown up. When they saw the kid with wild brown hair and goggles standing next to the hole, they ran out with a hundred questions.

"What was it!? What is that!? Are you okay!? Where did that come from!? Are there any others!?"

"Get away from me! Whoa!"

As the crowd engulfed him, Chris fell backwards into the hole. As he sat in the crater he felt the temperature begin to rise.

"What the!?... What's going on!?" Normally people don't feel the temperature change outside instantly, but Chris could and it freaked him out. He looked down at the device that he was still holding. It showed the temperature: 133 degrees. "Christ!"

As Chris watched the temp go up on the device he suddenly fell. "WHOA! HELP!" He had caught the edge of the hole in the crater and looked down. It seemed to be a bottomless, well of fire, so bright that he couldn't see. People ran off in various directions, frightened out of their senses. Normally Chris would have been able to pull himself out of the hole, but the temperature was unbearable. After about a minute, he passed out from the steadily rising temperature. His grip loosened and he fell in as he lost consciousness.

* * *

"KERPOW!"

A girl stood up from behind the old car and looked menacingly at her dad in the driver's seat. The smut on her face would have made him laugh, if he knew she wasn't so mad at him. The black on her face stood out against her long, blonde hair that hung down behind her at least halfway down her back. She had on a pair of faded jeans that frayed at the bottom around her sneakers. Her mom had almost died when she saw her daughter walk in one day with black and yellow sneakers.

"Sorry Kristen, I didn't mean to..."

"Do what!? Backfire the car in my face!? Just go away, you don't know anything about anything! I'll fix it myself."

"Kristen, if your mother caught you fixing the car without me, she'd hang me! Then she would go into one of her 'girls are supposed to do this, this, and this' fits."

"Fine, you can supervise, just stand over there."

She picked up the wrench and rolled back under the car. She loved cars, knowing every little piece. She was only twelve, but she could probably take apart the whole thing and put it back together. She didn't know why she liked cars; maybe it was because she lived in Houston. The family car had been making a weird noise, so she was trying to fix it, with her dad's 'help' of course.

"Wait... I think I found the problem! What in the world is this?"

"What is it?"

"There is something jammed up in here."

She pulled on it and it just fell onto her. She picked it up and aimed the flashlight she was using to see at it. It looked like a computer, a couple buttons and a screen. It was yellow and white. Kristen wasn't very interested in computers, but she did think of taking it apart, maybe see what made it work...

Did it work though? She pressed some buttons and saw two blank screens, a screen with the time, and a screen with digital coding scrolling by. She didn't like computers, but it didn't mean she didn't know them.

She rolled out from under the car and was about to show her dad when she heard another 'KERPOW'. Thinking it was her dad backfiring the car, again, she ducked down to avoid anymore smut on her face. Her dad wasn't in the car though, he was standing where he had been, looking outside the garage door.

"That wasn't me, it was lighting. Come on, we've got to get inside. It's about to storm. Did you find what was making the noise?"

For some reason she said no and hid the device in her pocket as she got up. Her dad still couldn't see her because of where he was standing, so he believed her. Kristen wondered why she had lied about the device to her dad. She stood up and washed her face in the garage sink, put there for just such occasions, and looked outside. Lighting was steadily flashing outside... in their front lawn.

"Um... Dad?" Her dad had already gone inside to ask Kristen's mom a question. The lightning was beginning to hit more and more in the same spot. "I thought lightning never struck twice in the same place..." Something wasn't right. She stepped outside and looked up at the overcast sky, then back at the lightning. Why was it striking in the same spot? Why wasn't she blinded by it? Why did she care? As a cadre of questions rode throughout her mind, she stepped outside towards the spot where the lightning was striking. Looking down, she saw there was a hole or puddle or something where the lighting hit. It was filled with light.

"Dad!"

"What Kristen?"

"Are there any holes in the yard?"

"No... why?"

"Just wondering."

As Kristen was about to back away a bolt of lightning slammed into the ground behind her. The force blew her forward into the hole, just as another bolt began to come down towards her. She caught herself, and for a split second thought she may be able to get out.

"Dad! Help me!"

Kristen's dad dashed out the house with a fury that to this day I haven't seen. It was too late though, the bolt of lightning that had come after her fall struck her and as she fell unconscious, she lost her grip and fell.

"KRISTEN!!"

Her father would have jumped in after her, but not only did the hole close, but another bolt of lighting hit, catching fire to a nearby tree.

"KRISTEN!!!"


	3. Ch 2: A Frostbitten Friend

**Chapter 2: A Frost-Bitten Friend**

"Uhhhh... where am I. Ow! My head..."

I finally came to after being slung around by the tornado. My head was pounding, it was inhumanly cold and worst of all, I didn't know where Jennifer was. I sat up and looked around. I was in the middle of a desert, well, sort of. If you can consider Antarctica a desert, then I was in a desert.

I stood up and looked around. There were snow dunes for miles around and little sign anything lived anywhere. So I did what anybody would do; walked. As I did I thought to myself. That device Jennifer had shown me seemed awfully familiar, but where had I seen it before? I wanted to say on TV, but wasn't sure.

Hours passed and still there wasn't much difference in the scenery. I was pale, freezing, and hungry. I didn't have to worry too much about water since I could just scoop up some snow, but it still didn't feel the same. As I finally reached the peak of one really large dune, I looked down. There was something at the bottom of the other side and tracks leading away from it for quite a distance. Could it be Jen? I raced down the hill, falling near the bottom and rolling the rest of the way. When I reached what I had seen, I almost jumped out my skin.

"Justin?" Justin was my little brother, I thought maybe the tornado had hit our house; it was right across the street from the church that was smashed. I looked a little closer and realized it wasn't him, his hair wasn't blonde and besides, my brother was—well, yeah. I crouched down to see if the kid was still alive.

"Oh come on, please wake up." I rolled the boy over and found a device on him just like the one Jen had; only his was blue and white.

"Are you OK?" I was beginning to panic. The first thing to find here would be a dead child. Thoughts began to race though my head as my imagination ran wild.

"Huh? Who are you?" The kid sat up and looked at me. He was paler than I was and much younger. "Where am I?"

"I'm James, but I don't know where we are. Who are you? How old are you? How did you get here?" I felt childish to be asking so many questions.

"My name's Joey." He explained to me about the hole in the sidewalk, the device, and the really cold weather up in New York.

"Are you okay?"

"Sure, but I'm hungry."

"Well I can't help that. Come on, before we both freeze out here." I probably should have been a little less up front about the danger we were in. Joey's eyes grew wide and he looked around himself again. "What's that?"

Well off in the distance there was a small cloud where snow was being thrown into the air. It was still very far away, but was coming at us quickly. "I don't know what it is, but we shouldn't find out, come on."

"But it could be somebody who could help us!"

"Or it could be something that would prefer not to."

"Where are we gonna go anyway?"

"Um... well... over there, um... just come on!"

"No."

"What?"

"No, I'm staying here to get help from whoever that is." Whatever was coming at us would be on us in less than a minute. I could make it out now and it looked like a giant, bluish, purplish bug.

"Joey, I've got to say that he doesn't look friendly." Joey turned around at this and saw the creature coming at us.

"What is that?" There was a slight rattle in his voice; he was getting scared.

"Like I said, lets not find out."

"Okay."

We began to run up the dune I had previously come down, but it was too late. The bug flew past us and landed on the snow ahead of us, causing a small avalanche.

"Um... hi. How ya doing? Could you tell us where we are?" I tried to speak in the friendliest voice I could, but being terrified out of my wits, it just sounded like a shaky joke. He just growled and laughed at the same time. I turned to see where Joey was and noticed he wasn't there. Instead, he was back down the hill racing away the creature.

"Fudge." The creature jumped into the air and let loose his wings, flying straight at Joey.

"NO!" Just as he took off, I jumped on top of him and rode him towards Joey. The bug was much larger than I anticipated.

"Joey! Get down!" Joey dived down and dodged the monster by the hair on his head. I turned back to make sure he was okay, but lost my grip and fell off. I felt the snow cave in around me and sunk in a few feet as the bug continued on. Joey ran up to me and showed me his device.

"Look! It says something!"

"Frostkawagamon... ultimate. How does that help us?"

"At least we know what he is now." I turned around and saw that Frostkawagamon was coming at us for another run. "Joey, listen, run, run as fast as you can and don't stop, okay? Don't even turn around for me, just run."

"But what if you get hurt?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Joey reminded me of my brother, only less annoying. Joey began to run off like I told him as Frostkawagamon came flying at us.

"Hey dumbass! Over here!" Frostkawagamon flew at me and with one roar slammed into the snow just below me. Snow and slush flew up in my face as I jumped onto Frostkawagamon's head. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do, but I punched, kicked, and did whatever came to mind. Frostkawagamon couldn't reach me on his back though. He just raged, stomping about on the snow dune causing chunks of it to slide away. Finally he flew into the air again, this time straight up.

"What the... what do you think you are doing?" I kicked Frostkawagamon's head and he roared. Finally, he stopped and began to fly down, back first. I hung on to the beast has he fell out of the sky. This was it, I was a gonner. At least Joey would be long gone by now...

"Hey you stupid bug! Yeah you! Come here and fight me! You don't stand a chance! Leave my friend alone!" Before I could yell at him for coming back, a blast of light shot across the frozen landscape from Joey's device. Dazed, I let go of Frostkawagamon, fell to the snow, and rolled out of the way. Frostkawagamon slammed into the snow, burying himself deep within it. I looked back at Joey only to find that he was no longer there. Instead, what looked like a short polar bear with a sweatband stood in his place. Before I could say anything to it though, Frostkawagamon tore out of the snow bank, finally blowing the entire dune apart. I flipped over myself and hit the ground near the bazooka toting bear.

"Hey James!"

"Wha... who... how... Joey!?"

"Yeah! Check me out! Isn't this cool?"

"Sure, whatever, just do something!" Joey, well I guess it's safe to call him Joey, detached the four-barreled bazooka from his back and aimed at Frostkawagamon, who by now was in a fit of rage from his failure in killing me.

"Eat snowballs!" Joey pulled the trigger and a volley of snowballs hurdled out of the barrel right at Frostkawagamon.

"I think we just made him angrier."

"No way! I kicked butt!"

"Yeah, well that butt is coming back for some more kicking." The attack hadn't even phased the beast. Frostkawagamon roared and came at us with every bit of strength within him, which was quite a bit.

"Maybe you missed; lemme help hold the bazooka."

"Okay, just hurry!" I dashed up behind Joey and mounted the back end of the bazooka. He could have held it himself easily, but I felt I had to do something. Just before Joey fired, I looked up at the sky behind Frostkawagamon. It was dark and light at the same time, like there was a perfect, wavy line between night and day.

"What the..." Before I could look back down Joey fired, this time though much more force came out of the little bazooka. The snowballs glowed like comets, with a light blue flame around them as they impacted into Frostkawagamon. The bazooka emptied and we looked to see what damage we had done. As the last of the snowballs hit Frostkawagamon, we could see parts of Frostkawagamon disintegrating into thin air. We had blown a hole clear through him this time. He gave out one last roar before falling to the ground, blowing into millions of pieces as he landed.

"We did it? We did it! I'm awesome!"

"You sure are kid. Now if you don't mind me asking, how did you become... well... this?" Joey pulled the device out from under his headband.

"When I yelled at Frostkawagamon, a picture appeared and then it got all bright. When the light went away, I was this!" He handed me the device and I looked at it. It was still glowing and had what looked like a crest or logo or something in the background. Beneath it read the word 'Friendship.' In the foreground, there were stats. "Kumamon... Champion."

"I'm a champion alright! We are the champions! We are the champions!" Kumamon started singing and running about.

"Okay Mr. Champion, how do we get out of here?"

"Well, I guess we walk."

"Wonderful. At least it's a beautiful night and day out."

"What do you mean?"

"Look up."

Kumamon looked up and saw the split across the sky. "Wow. I wonder how it does that."

"I dunno but let's go. I don't have fur like you do; jeans and a t-shirt aren't exactly what you would call warm."


	4. Ch 3: Fighting Fire With Fire

**Chapter 3: Fighting Fire with Fire**

Three days. Three long, foodless, days.

"James, I'm hungry." Joey had long since changed back. He just didn't have enough energy in him to stay Kumamon.

"I am too Joey." We had walked the entire three days, only sleeping when we were too exhausted to go on any further. By now, the massive snow dunes were gone, replaced by another seemingly endless landform: tundra. The frozen and hard ground was bare except for a few scraggly looking trees and bushes. The unpleasant split sky had also departed.

The good thing though was that the further we went, the warmer the weather got. When we started, Joey's device thingy had read about 20 degrees, now it was around 50. Joey was alright with the cold, he was wearing a light blue sweater and jeans. I had gotten a cold in my shorts and t-shirt. I would have had my gloves, but I let Joey wear them, thinking they wouldn't help much in keeping me from freezing to death.

Time went on as such. Walking, walking, walking...

* * *

"FOOD!" Joey was ecstatic. We had gone five days without eating anything, and one day without any water. The sight of an apple tree beside an unfrozen creek prompted celebration.

"You get something to drink and I'll get some... some..."

"What's wrong?"

"I feel like I've got to sneeze but can't. ACHOO! That's better. I'll get some apples."

"Okay." The truth was that I had little skill in climbing trees. I hadn't done it since I had broken a leg falling from one when I was little. But I was the only one who could do it; Joey wasn't tall enough to reach the first branch.

"Just like pull-ups." I jumped and grabbed hold of the first branch. Pulling myself up, I thought I saw something in the distance. I could get apples from here, but curiosity is one of my best traits. Climbing to the top I saw more dunes in the distance mixed with rocks. It was a desert, a sandy desert, a hot sandy desert.

"Hey Joey?"

"Bwat?" Water spilled from Joey's mouth as he looked up after chugging from the stream.

"Ever heard of the pyramids?"

* * *

Another two days of walking, but not nearly as bad as before. We had eaten apples until we were sick, and then walked off with as many we could carry. I had gotten over my cold and taken my gloves back so I could carry more apples. Joey had taken off his sweater and revealed that he had a t-shirt beneath it.

"I hate the way sweaters are all fuzzy and scratchy on the inside." He was walking along with me using the sweater, with the hole for the neck tied shut with the sleeves, to carry apples. We were well into the desert by now and the temperature was much more favorable, about 70 degrees in the day. During our travels we had yet to see another creature, let alone a beast like Frostkawagamon. As we walked along between dunes and rocks, I thought I heard somebody talking, but I couldn't tell over Joey's carefree humming.

"Shhh. Do you hear that?" Joey stopped and looked at me with another of those innocent, questioning looks.

"Quit that. Seriously, listen." He stopped and looked forward. There was somebody talking in the distance, by some palm trees. It was an oasis. One voice sounded like a frustrated kid, the other was harder to place.

"What do you mean you don't like coconuts!?" The kid was furious.

"They're nasty! They aren't even food! There's only chunky milk on the inside!" The voice sounded odd.

"Can't you at least help me open them?"

"No, I already told you. My fire only singes the fur on the outside and my claws won't so much as dent it."

"I hate coconuts!"

"See, I told you!" The two voices continuously argued, rambling on about their poor luck.

"Come on Joey, let's get a closer look." He nodded and followed me slowly, silently dashing from rock to rock, getting ever closer to the oasis. Just before I could see who the voices were coming from, Joey tripped, spilling apples from his sweater all over the sand.

"What was that?" The kid's voice whispered, but we could hear it now since we were so close. I waved to Joey to hurry up, grab the apples, and get to the rock, but it was too late.

"Hey! It's another human like you Chris!"

"What? Really!? Hey! Over there!"

"I guess the jig's up Joey."

"What? Who's that?" I stepped out from behind the rock I was behind and helped Joey pick up the last couple of apples and walked to the kid. He looked younger than me, but older than Joey. He sported a pair of goofy looking goggles atop some short, but wild brown hair. Clipped to his pocket was a device, just like Jen's and Joey's, but his was dark red around the edges. Beside him stood an orange lizard about Joey's height; all he seemed to do was eye the apples we had picked up.

"Hey! I'm Chris and this is my buddy Agumon!"

"Can I have some apples?" There was a slight tint of whine in lizard's question, but it may have just been me.

"Hi! I'm Joey and this is James! Hey, wow! You have a thingy like mine!"

"Huh? Oh yeah! This thing has helped me out tons."

"Mine too!" Joey was so friendly I wondered how it was possible. Maybe it was why it said 'Friendship' on his device. "It's awesome! I can change into a superhero with it!"

"Really?" A disappointed look crept across Chris' face. "Do you have one, oh silent one?" He looked at me, the disappointed look replace with a cocky grin.

"No, I don't." The grin grew more smug and triumphant. "So how did you get here?" Just like with Joey, everybody explained what had happened to them, how, and everything until we all met. Meanwhile, Agumon had snuck into Joey's stash of apples.

"Agumon, you didn't ask!"

"Yes I did, but he never answered me!"

"You greedy little hog of a lizard, I ought a..."

"It's ok. We have lots more. There are still some left in my sweater and he has some in his pockets." Joey was a little too trusting. He had pretty much given away our food. But, I didn't want to make any enemies, so I covered up my little hiding act.

"Yeah man, here. I heard you don't like coconuts." I tossed Chris an apple and he blushed out of humiliation. He hadn't known we had heard him yelling. "So what is... um... what's your name again?"

"Agumon." Chunks of apple flew out of his mouth and landed on Chris.

"Yeah, what are you?"

"I'm a Digimon." More apple soared onto Chris.

"A what?"

"A Digimon, short for digital monster." Chris responded for his partner, not wanting to be sprayed with half chewed apple again. "They're the only things in the digital world besides us and the plants." Chris saw the confused look in my face and kept talking. "The Digital World is where we're at. It's made up of the data from our world."

"I do believe you are talking out of your ass."

"No, seriously. Agumon told me. Here, I'll prove it." Chris pulled out his device. "This thing only scans Digimon. Watch." He pointed it at Agumon until it beeped and showed me the screen.

"Agumon... Rookie."

"Yeah now watch what happens when I scan him." He pointed it at Joey and let it beep. A picture of the logo that Joey had showed me appeared, along with the word 'Friendship'. He did the same to himself. It showed a different logo, what looked like a sun, along with the word 'Courage.' And then aimed at me. "Say cheese!"

"Mozzarella!" It was the first time I had joked about anything since I had woke up in the digital world. The device beeped.

"What the...?"

"What is it?"

"It says something weird for you."

"What you talking bout'?"

"Look!" He shoved the device into my hands and I looked. It didn't show a logo.

"Digidestined... Strength Varies. What does it mean?"

"I don't know! That's why I handed it to you!"

"Figures; I'm the odd one without a device thingy so I get the screwed up title."

"So you're a digidestined?" A somewhat cruel voice bellowed from the other side of the oasis. All of us, Joey, Chris, Agumon, and me, looked to see what looked like a fire with human features: head, limbs, etc. "How lucky I am to be able to turn over such prized gifts to my master."

"I don't know what you're talking about bub, but we're not gifts for anybody! So scram!" This would only the first of many times Chris' loud mouth would get us in trouble.

"Ha! You'll do as I say or you'll burn."

"Yeah right! I could kick your butt! Just wait till you're eating snow!" Joey, who had been eating some more apples along with Agumon stood up and yelled at the flaming creature. He whipped out his device and scanned it.

"Meramon... Champion. So what if you're a champion too! We're champs!"

"That's not what it means." Agumon had finally stopped gorging himself and was looking at Joey. "It is how powerful he is. It goes from Rookie to Champion, Ultimate, and then Mega."

"Ultimate? We've beaten an ultimate! This will be a breeze!"

"You should watch your mouth kid. Fireball!" Meramon hurled a blast of flame straight at Joey.

"Get down!" Chris tackled Joey out of the way, narrowly avoiding the attack himself.

"He's mine! Pepper Breath!" Another blast of fire, this one much smaller than Meramon's, launched out of Agumon's mouth, hitting Meramon.

"Ha! You think you can stop me with fire! I AM fire!"

"Chris!"

"I'm on it!" At this Chris held out the device which, like Joey's, sent light pouring in every direction.

"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!"

"Holy smack." I watched in awe as the light died down. A much larger, fiercer creature now stood where Agumon had.

"You're in for it now!" Chris was cockier than ever, believing Greymon to be unbeatable or something.

"Nova Blast!" A massive ball of flame projected from Greymon's mouth, pounding into Meramon.

"You just don't get it do you? I AM flame, you're just making my job easier."

"Not anymore!"

"Eh?" Meramon turned around to find Kumamon standing with his bazooka aimed. "Blizzard Blaster!" The snowballs pummeled Meramon back, but melted on impact.

"Grrr... that's a nice trick kid, but not good enough. Fireball!" This time he didn't miss. The blast threw Kumamon back a few yards.

"Joey!" I began to run to Kumamon when I noticed it again. The sky was split. "What the hell is going on here!?"

"Nova Blast!" Greymon put a little more 'oomph' into this one. Meramon accepted it gladly, not expecting the force to blow his flames out some.

"Arrgh!"

"Nova Blast!" It was hurting him, but not fast enough.

"Quit that! Fireball!"

"Nova Blast!" The two balls of flame slammed into each other, creating a napalm effect, spewing flames across the desert, singeing Joey, who had changed back after the blast, Chris, and me, and catching palm trees on fire. Wait... the oasis!

"Greymon! Over there!" I pointed out where the water would come up if it were coerced right.

"Good idea!" The deep voice coming from the giant lizard made me step back a moment, before I reassured myself it was on our side.

"Joey's burned pretty bad! Hurry up and finish him!"

"Oh I will." Meramon let loose a sinister laugh and prepared to hurl another fireball. If their attacks collided again, it could give us some serious burns.

"Nova Blast!" Before Meramon could counterattack, the fireball hit the center of the oasis, just in front of where Meramon was standing.

"You missed you fool!"

"No I didn't." At that point the water gushed out like a geyser, heated from the Nova Blast. The water blew Meramon into the air. The water cooled and the geyser subsided, dropping Meramon to the ground, unable to get up in his weakened state.

"No, this isn't over. He will get you. I'm nothing compared to him."

"I do believe you are talking out of your flaming ass." Chris, just to mock me, yelled to Meramon before Greymon finished him off.

"Nova Blast!" As the flames impacted, they blew Meramon apart into the millions of pieces the way Frostkawagamon had. At this, the sky returned to normal and Greymon devolved.

"Joey, are you ok?" Chris had turned his attention back to Joey before I could run over to help.

"Ow... it feels like a very bad sunburn."

"Try getting in the water, that will help cool you off." Chris began to help Joey up, but he let out a shout as he began to get pulled up.

"It hurts to move."

"Jeez, what do we do now?"


	5. Ch 4: Fevered Firefight

**Chapter 4: Fevered Firefight**

"James, look after your brother while I run some errands. He's in the pool."

"Okay mom." I was busy putting up some tools from fixing our trampoline. It took a minute for what she said to register. "Oh." I looked over my shoulder through the bushes and saw my little brother splashing about in the shallow end of the pool.

"Hi James! Come here!" He had the hose in the water and was waiting to blast me.

"Not right now." I got on our trampoline and leaned back on it. Finally I fell all the way back and began to doze.

"Huh?" The sun was now blinding me; it had come out from behind a tree. Which meant it was later in the day.

"Oh shit. Justin!?" There was no response.

"Justin!? Answer me!" There was still no response. I stood up and jumped on the trampoline to see over the bushes around the pool. He was floating face down in the pool.

"JUSTIN!!!" I jumped off the trampoline, nearly breaking my leg. Through the bushes and into the shallow end. How was I not going to hit the bottom? Here it came...

* * *

It was our second day of walking through the desert, Chris, Agumon, myself, and an injured Joey. I guessed he had second degree burns; if they were any worse there would be no chance for him. We had emptied the apples from his sweater and tied it around the bad burns on his arm and shoulders. I used my gloves to cover the burns on the side of his face. How could I have let this happen?

It was our second day of walking, but it had been four days since I had any sleep. Nightmares kept haunting my thoughts during the day and they played themselves out at night. It was exhausting, especially since we were carrying Joey; Chris took his arms, I held his legs, and Agumon supported the middle like a pillar. But it wasn't the burns that worried me, it was the fever. The heat was around 90 degrees and had begun to take its toll.

"Man... this... desert... never... ends." Chris was gasping for breath. It was late in the day and we felt like we were just going to drop and die in the middle of the desert. But, we knew if we did, none of us would survive, except maybe Agumon who seemed to enjoy the hot weather. "Hey, do you hear something?"

"The heat is getting to you Chris. You're beginning to hear things." I spoke too soon. A blast of fire hit the ground near us, knocking us over and spraying sand everywhere. Chris got some in his eyes and dropped Joey's arms. Agumon stopped and was rubbing his face too. I would of gotten some if I hadn't been wearing my shades.

"Ow! What was that for?" Joey muttered, almost incomprehensibly, when his head hit the ground, no longer supported by Chris and Agumon.

"Sorry Joey, just go back to sleep." The fever was taking its course, with no sign of letting up. I could tell; his forehead felt like fresh coals from a fire. Chris, finally with sand out of his eye, was running up a dune to see where the fireball had come from. It hadn't seemed like it was aimed at us.

"Psst! James! Get up here, quick!" Chris signaled to me and I ran up the dune to see what was going on. Agumon stayed behind with Joey. Three Meramon were dodging about a robed man. He had short, somewhat spiky hair and wielded a long, thin sword; a katana. The Meramon were hurling fireballs with at him steadily, but he just dodged or blocked them with ease.

"I don't have time for this."

"You made time when you killed our brother!" The Meramon were furious. I thought about the one we had destroyed. Could they be mistaking the man for us?

"I killed no one before, but you leave me no choice except to vanquish you."

"Hah! Listen to him." One of the Meramon laughed rather insanely and hurled another fireball.

"Your funeral." The man dashed at the Meramon who had attacked him and let his sword slice clear through the flaming digimon. The creature gave a croaked out an attempted scream, but could do no more than that. He blew apart into data. Agumon had told me about what happens when a digimon is defeated. It breaks apart into data and is reconfigured within a digi-egg at a place he called 'Primary Village.'

"You monster!" The Meramon were abruptly taken aback by this sudden show of power by the man.

"I warn you for the last time, be gone or face a similar fate." The Meramon hesitated a moment until the man's sword caught the sun's reflection. At that, they ran, rather quickly.

"Dude, that was awesome!"

"Shut up Chris! We don't know if he's friendly."

"Hey, the enemy of my enemy..." As we argued the man turned about and sighted us, quickly sprinting up the dune. Before we knew it, he was standing over us.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Chris and he's James. We don't know what were doing here."

"Then you're just the people I'm looking for. You wouldn't happen to have any computers or such on you, would you?"

"Well, I have this." Chris pulled out the colored device. The screen glowed quite brightly as he showed it to the man, who looked quite young in person.

"Yes, a Digivice. You are the digidestined I was told were out here."

"You're kidding me." I couldn't help it. Between no sleep for days, Chris' arrogance, and Joey teetering on death, I finally snapped.

"Excuse me?"

"Can't you be a little bit more help!? Hell, we're out here in the middle of the fucking desert with no food, no water, and a kid damn near dead and all you tell US IS WHAT THE HELL THAT THING IS CALLED!? I DON'T CARE, I DON'T EVEN HAVE ONE!!!" I was ranting uncontrollably now.

"Calm down. What do you mean 'near dead'?"

"Are you blind!? Down there stupid!" I threw my arm in the direction of Joey, nearly losing my balance.

"Okay, we can talk later, we need to hurry and get him out of here. Get down to him; I'll be there in a minute." I stood dumbfounded. I didn't know what do say. It was almost more infuriating the way he took it so coolly. Chris was staring at me.

"Dude, come on. You heard him." We walked down to Joey and woke him up. He opened his eyes groggily and looked around. Agumon just stepped aside and waited to see what happened.

"It's hot."

"I know." I had to suppress the rage that had burst out of me a moment before. I didn't want to get violent in front of Joey. At that moment, what looked like a large robot digimon rocketed over the sand dune that a few moments ago we had been on top of. It landed near us, making sure not to blow sand in our direction. The blue dome on top of it opened and the man jumped out.

"This is Mekanorimon, a machine digimon. He only works with a pilot. He's going to be our trip home."

"Home?" Chris turned up at those words with obvious excitement.

"Well, my home. I live here in the digital world."

"Oh." The disappointment came just as obviously. That was the one really good thing about Chris; he wore his emotions on his face so obviously that one would have to be blind and deaf not to know what he was thinking. "But, we can't all fit into that thing."

"I know. The little guy can ride with me. You three, well, I hope you have strong grips."

* * *

"COULD YOU SLOW DOWN!!?"

"Sorry Chris, but if I did then you would have to hold on longer!"

"Wow, this thing has air conditioning!" We could hear Joey shuffling around on the crammed inside.

"I think I'm going to be sick." We had flown over sand, snow, and trees for at least thirty minutes. Chris and I didn't have any strength, but we had less eagerness to let go and fall. Agumon, like always didn't seemed bothered by it, like he had done this before.

"How much farther?" Agumon was looking up at the dome and yelled.

"We're here!" I looked down and saw nothing but a large pond, surrounded by woods. He began to lower down towards the lake.

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

"Hold your breath for a few seconds!" I wondered if he was planning to drown us, clinging to the limbs of the Mekanorimon. We splashed into the water and held our breath like he said. A few moments later, we were in dry air again. I breathed and looked around. It was a house under the water, which was suspended seemingly magically in a dome shape. "Get inside now, before it comes down." The man hopped out of the Mekanorimon and carried Joey inside the house. We followed, stiff and worn from the trip. The moment we closed the door, we heard a loud rush of water outside. Looking through a window, I saw a few fish swim by the 'Welcome' mat in front of the door we had just come in.

"Agumon, it's good to see you again. Go and make yourself at home. You two, take off your shoes." The man was now standing behind us waiting impatiently for us to take them off.

"Why?" Need I say who this wonderful quote came from?

"Because I don't want dirt tracked in my house. I swear, I didn't have to worry about that with the others."

"What others?"

"The other digidestined, of course."

"Yeah about that," I cut in, "what is a digidestined. His little thingy..."

"Digivice." The man corrected me.

"Yeah, whatever. His 'digivice' called me that when he scanned me. With him and Joey it just showed those little logos and words like 'Friendship' and 'Courage."

"Yes, I've been meaning to ask you. How did you get here? You should have a digivice."

"What, is it some kind of electronic passport or something?"

"No, it is what allows digidestined into this world. If you got here without one, then you are here by mistake."

"Hey, don't call my existence a mistake. I've been through hell out there."

"Without a digivice or partner, I'm sure you have. The digivice is what the chosen ones carry, and only them. The digidestined are the chosen children, here to save not only this world, but your own."

"You mean I'm going to save the world?" Chris was thrilled. He looked like the type that wanted to be a hero.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. The digivice allows a digidestined to channel energy into either themselves or into their partner. In your case Chris, you channel energy into Agumon. Joey on the other hand, used it to digivolve himself. Now come, I have some tea ready and there is much to talk about."

"Wait, what is your name anyway and where is Joey?" I felt like the guy was feeding us rubbish and lies.

"Joey is down the hall in bed. He is sick and needs rest. As for my name, it's Gennai."

For the first time since I had come here I realized where I had seen everything before; Agumon, the digivices, the digital world, all of it, even the goggles. I can't explain why, but it all came rushing back to me right there, in Gennai's house.


	6. Ch 5: Conspiracies & the UnChosen

**Chapter 5: Conspiracies and the Un-Chosen**

"So it was all true? The rumors, the stories, the shows; it was all true?"

"To an extent."

"What do you mean 'to an extent'?" Chris and I were still in shock at what Gennai was telling us.

"The shows they made were toned down... a lot."

"How much?" I couldn't believe it. Everything I thought I knew about life and the universe all of a sudden seemed false, incorrect; like lies.

"Well if you'd like I could take you to the forest-turned-wasteland where Wargreymon and Metalgarurumon fought."

"But if it's all true, then how come nobody ever talks about it? Everybody must have seen the world in the sky!" But then again, I could only ever dismiss it as a dream.

"Yes, they did. I must admit, the others have done quite a job keeping the digital world under wraps; Izzy especially."

"What's so different about him?" I think Chris likes to think he is the best. Whenever somebody compliments somebody other than him, he asks why they deserve the compliment and tries to discredit the reason. Gennai pulled a newspaper out of a drawer and handed it to me.

"Respected Physics Professor Discovers Proof Discrediting 'Other World' theory."

"Well? Read on man!" Impatience is a virtue.

"A popular and respected Japanese physician recently announced that the 'Other World' theory is false and obsolete. This statement was made after a project, led by student Koushiro Izumi, was completed in researching the phenomenon. 'The world and events seen in the sky that night was simply a distorted reflection of our own Earth. The distortions were caused by abnormalities in the Ozone Layer that night and the interference of radio and television broadcast. The images broadcast materialized due to the abnormality, causing the amazing images seen by people across the planet."

"Smooth, very smooth. But what about the others you told us about? You know, the tamers and those frontier kids."

"'Tamers' was the only original program created to help dispel lingering rumors about the digital world. The original chronicles were still believed to be based on truth of the events. Most people seem to believe animated programming to be fictional, but it took something that was actually fictional to kill the remaining rumors. The frontier digidestined as you call them were called in to deal with the crisis as explained in the show. They were never missed and the escape of Lucemon into your world dispelled itself as an 'electrical event.' I can't help but think that somebody friendly was working at the power plant responsible at the time."

"So this has all been a cover-up? I still don't get how it could work. The answers just seem too simple."

"And yet you do not argue the ideas behind that alien cover-up movie. What was it? TK showed it to me once."

"Men in Black?" Chris blurted out. "They had the flashy things, remember?"

"Yes, that was it. But I ask you, who says the others didn't have them?"

"What are you getting at?" I wasn't prepared for what came next.

"The past digidestined have worked their entire lives since their trials and tribulations in the digital world. Through their hard work, they were able to upload data directly to the digital world provided the tools necessary to protect the digital world from humans. They then used the television station that Matt's and TK's father worked at to emit a signal, causing humans across the globe to lose surety in the 'Other World'. After that, people simply dismissed ideas of it as dreams or Déjà vu. These people included themselves. Without the need or ability to return to the digital world, they too soon forgot about it. The pulse was still in effect when the last group of digidestined returned so there were no worries on this end about them."

"So you wiped the memories of those who saved you?"

"Exactly."

"I'm sorry guys," Chris stood up, "but this is too confusing to take in one sitting. Do you have an empty bed Gennai?"

"Sure, just go down the hall, second door on the left."

"Thanks. See ya James."

"Peace out man." A few moments passed before Gennai spoke again.

"Now that he has gone away I wish to speak with you in private. How did you get here?"

"I was swept up in a tornado. I woke up here."

"This doesn't make sense, unless..."

"Unless... what?"

"Was there anybody with you?"

"Yea, a girl named Jennifer."

"Did she have a digivice?" My mind went back to the pink and white digivice.

"Yea, she showed it to me before the tornado struck."

"Then I was correct. You aren't supposed to be here. You were brought by accident with Jennifer. We should find a way to get you out of here as soon as possible, your presence here has already begun to have profound effects on the digital world."

"What do you mean?"

"I knew something was wrong a few days ago when the sky split into both night and day. The digivice not only allows you to channel power, but control it. The reason why humans have such influence on digimon and the digital world is because when they are translated into data, it becomes unstable, complex, and incredible. Your power fluctuates with your emotions. The sky is reflecting your sub-conscious attitude and patron element. For example, if Chris had no digivice, he might spontaneously combust." I wasn't one-hundred percent opposed to that idea.

"So why night and day?"

"I don't know that yet."

"Is there anyway out of here?"

"Right now? No. But as the worlds come closer I suspect that you will be taken back."

"Excuse me?"

"I've said too much." Gennai waited for a moment before continuing. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. But you must promise not to tell the other digidestined you meet. I only tell you this because it no longer concerns you."

"Fine, what is it."

"We have reason to believe that a very powerful dark digimon is bringing the digital world and your world together so that he may conquer them both more easily. The problem is that no digimon could have the type of power needed to do such a stunt. Do you remember Daemon?"

"Yeah, the really evil guy they sealed off."

"Seals only last so long. He escaped some time ago and evaded the searches of the ones who created the digivices. Since, he has begun to destroy the remaining digivices, crests, spirits, all of it. If he continued to do so, there would be no resistance whatsoever to his assault on Earth. We took the remaining crests and programmed them into the remaining D3's, along with partner codes or spirit codes. That is why Chris has Agumon, and Joey digivolves himself. However, the creators of the digivices have been worried that his may have been in vain. Only four digidestined against more evil than thought existed is not a good sign."

"So I should stay."

"Excuse me?"

"There is nothing you can do to make me leave now. Two worlds on the verge of Armageddon, a lack of heroes, and a shortening amount of time. Those are my kind of odds."

"You don't understand..."

"I understand perfectly well. I could be killed, mutilated, de-boned, and/or castrated by staying here. But you need me and you know it, whether I'm supposed to be here or not."

"Fine. You are sure you wish to stay?"

"Absolutely."

"Then I will speak with the creators. Perhaps they can forge another D3 to at least help you along the way. I warn you though, there are no more spirits or partners to be found. They have all been captured, killed, converted, or reconfigured to Primary Village."

"Hey, I's be good."

"Alright. Go to bed. You will need to rest for the journey you have ahead of you."

"Aight. Peace out."

"Umm... peace." As I walked down the hall Gennai called to me one more time. "James! One more thing."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"How did you and Kumamon beat Frostkawagamon. A champion, with very few exceptions, never, and I mean never, beats an ultimate digimon."

"Dunno. Maybe heaven helped us."

"Hmmm..." And at that, I went to bed.


	7. Ch 6: Love: Storm of Passion

**Chapter 6: Love—Storm of Passion**

Compared to the desert, Gennai's house was pure luxury. The beds were comfortable, the shower was hot, and the food was good, although I'm not a big fan of noodles. Joey, on the other hand, didn't get to enjoy it nearly as much. Since the travel was no longer distracting him, the effects of his illness hit him full on.

Chris, Agumon, and I spent our days there lounging about, sleeping for ludicrous periods of time. Gennai often made comments on our laziness, especially when somebody came to visit, which happened quite often. Various digimon of all shapes and sizes were always coming and going, bringing with them news of the outside world. Gennai would make us go to the rooms he had loaned to us whenever he found us sleeping in eyeshot. It was odd though; Gennai had always seemed more like a goofy, lighthearted person on the shows. Maybe they had toned that as well.

It was a week before Joey's fever broke and he got out of bed for something other than using the restroom. It didn't take long for him to go back to his hyper self. Once he was well though, Gennai left.

"I must go speak with the creators James. Can you control Chris and Joey while I'm gone? Agumon shouldn't need much help." Before I could respond, images flashed through my head, bringing me to the ground.

"James!" I opened my eyes and looked around. I had landed on my knees and was holding my arms over my head like something was about to fall from the ceiling.

"Nothing... just a headache. Sure, I can keep em' in check."

"Are you sure? I think the whole sky went dark just then." Gennai was distraught at seeing the sky quickly fade to black and back so quickly.

"I'm fine. Just a few too many noodles."

"Okay. I should be back in two or three days."

"Aight."

* * *

"Joey! Calm down! Quit jumping around!"

"Why?"

"Because you will mess up th... CHRIS WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!!?"

"Dude, this guy has nothing but those robes! I look like a samurai! Shwing!" Chris had walked out of Gennai's room wearing one of his robes, which was a little big on him, and was making motions like he was whipping out a sword. "So be it. Shling! Shwing!"

"Haha! You look just like Gennai!" Agumon was bowling over with laughter, watching Chris jump around, swinging an imaginary sword.

What had I been thinking when I said I'd baby-sit these two? Joey turned out to be really annoying and hyper, as if he had eaten a bowl of sugar, and Chris was just as much, if not more. I had underestimated the difference three years of age could make.

"I guess this is why my mom always had a short temper." I was muttering to myself as I tried to make some fried eggs. I had watched my mom do it many times, but it was much harder than I thought, especially with Frick and Frack bouncing off the walls behind me.

"Ahem." I turned leaned backwards from the stove to see Gennai standing in the entrance hall. I thought to myself for a second. Yep, it had been two days, just like he said. Of course, that was before I realized what Chris was doing. "Having fun you two?"

"Yeah man! This guy Gennai has the coolest wardrobe! Shling!" Chris hadn't realized who it was asking him the questions.

"Why thank you."

"Huh? Gennai! Um... I can explain! You see, James bet me that I was a wuss and so I told him 'No way man!' and to prove it I went into your room and tried on the robe and I thought it was cool and by the way he still owes me twenty bucks and please don't throw me out!" Chris was panicking faster than he could speak; slipping up on words and running sentences together. It was a lie, but I decided to play along.

"Yeah Chris, your grammar shows your unsurpassed courage. How could I have ever doubted you?"

"Don't make fun of his crest. Not until they have had a chance to try and make fun of yours at least."

"What do you mean?" I put down the spatula I was using on the eggs and walked out of the kitchen. "What do you mean 'my crest'?" Gennai reached into a pocked on the inside of his robe and pulled out a digivice. It was completely white.

"It will take a color once you take it. It will adapt itself to your personality and greatest virtue."

"Okay." I walked over, slightly shaking, and took the device. I was nervous at what I would get. I grabbed the digivice and waited a moment. It began to change colors around the edge.

"Well let's see what color you get. Hmmm... black."

"What does it mean? What about my crest?"

"Wait a moment. These things take time." Joey, Chris, and Agumon had calmed down and were watching the spectacle. As I waited, the digivice began to glow faintly, then brightly. I turned away from the light until it died down and looked back. The crest shown surprised me.

"You're kidding me."

"No, the digivice chooses the virtue greatest in you."

"Well why can't I have knowledge? I'm a smart guy."

"You are either not as smart as you think you are, or are just more hopeful than you are intelligent." The Crest of Hope shined brilliantly from the screen of the D-3. I may not have shown it, but I was beaming with pride knowing I finally could boast that I was the new digidestined of hope. Gennai kept on talking while I drifted about in my thoughts. "Besides, two digidestined in the same group can't have the same crest. That would be nonsense."

"What do you mean? Neither of us have the Crest of Knowledge." Chris took my place asking the questions while I stared into my new digivice.

"None of you do, but another does. The remaining digidestined have been found not far from here, but they need your help. I'm afraid it is your time to leave here."

"Well why don't you go help them!? You have the whole sword thing going on for you! We would have been killed against three Meramon."

"Because it is not my place to fight and that was not a great show of power against the Meramon. They are arrogant, much like you Chris, and underestimated my strength. However, they overestimated it once I destroyed one of them. Besides, this would be an excellent opportunity for all of you to finally get acquainted."

"Who is out there?" I had finally broken my gaze away from the digivice and had put it in my pocket.

"A young girl about Chris' age named Kristen and another girl about your age James."

"Jennifer?"

"Yes, but I don't know what crest she carries with her yet. For all we know, she might not know either. Kristen carries the Crest of Knowledge."

"Alright. Where are they?"

"In a town jail a few miles north of here. Go up to my attic and you should see some backpacks lying around somewhere up there. Bring them down and you can get ready for your journey. Make sure to get two extra for them."

"You mean we have to carry their stuff too?" Chris grimaced at the idea of more work than was necessary.

"No. After you get the girls out, bring them here. I still need to tell them what I've told you. I would just like to have the backpacks prepared by the time you get back."

"Aight." I ran upstairs into Gennai's attic and found the backpacks piled up next to a large crate. Each of them had a pair of thermoses, a large canteen, and heavy duty sleeping bag. I figured that the thermoses were for soup or something since the canteen was there. I ran back downstairs and tossed the backpacks on the floor.

"You won't need them for this trip, but I will need some time preparing for your journey when you leave here for good."

* * *

We left Gennai's house and ran north for as long as we could. We were ready to get the girls and get back.

"Hey James."

"What?" It was the first thing Chris had said to me since I had gotten my digivice and the Crest of Hope.

"Are they hot?"

"Say what?"

"You know, the girls were going to save. Are they hot?"

"How would I know, I've never met them."

"You're lying."

"Excuse me?"

"You're lying. You knew Jennifer was one of them before Gennai even said her name."

"Whatever, just shut up." This was only the beginning of what would be a long conflict over Jennifer and Kristen. Joey and Agumon simply sniggered as they trotted along behind us.

* * *

It was nightfall by the time we reached the village. We were hiding behind a bunch of bushes and looking around. The town was crawling with a bunch of grayish looking blobs with fuzzy ears, and a bunch of what looked like rabbits—ghetto style rabbits.

"They're Pagumon and Gazimon; babies and rookies. This should be a cinch."

"They may be weak, but see how many of them there are?" Agumon sounded worried.

"Don't worry, it's not like we will have to fight them all, we could just sneak in."

"Or maybe we won't have to do that either!" Joey was showing why he had the Crest of Friendship again.

"You can't just run in there and say 'hey guys, would you let my friends go?' There must be a reason they are being held prisoner."

"Oh yeah, just watch me." Before we could stop him, Joey hopped out from behind the bushes and began to run into the village square.

"Hey! Come back!" Chris stood up and began to shout at Joey, calling attention to him. "Wait up!" He ran out to catch up with him, Agumon following in tow. I just crouched down lower and hoped I wouldn't be seen. We couldn't all get captured. As the three ran out into the middle of the village, all of the Pagumon and Gazimon stopped what they were doing and turned to see my friends dash into their midst.

"Who are you and what do you want?" A rather old, rough looking Gazimon stepped out and stopped Joey in his tracks. Chris and Agumon followed suit. Before any of them could answer, the Gazimon's glance meandered down to the D-3 clipped to Joey's jeans. "So, you're here to save those other two, aren't you?" A slow chuckle leaked out of the rabbit's mouth as Chris searched for words to respond with. "Guards! Take them to their 'friends.' They can join them for the execution. The more the merrier!"

"Hey wait a minute!" Agumon wasn't about to go down without a fight. "Chris!"

"I've got ya buddy!" Chris' digivice glowed red and Agumon digivolved.

"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!" As the light died down, the four Gazimon guards who had come to take them away hesitated. "Heh heh heh, who wants roasted rabbit?"

"Grrr... Everybody! Get them!" At this, a swarm of Pagumon and Gazimon tackled, shocked, and blew bubbles at Greymon.

"Nova Blast!" The ball of flame hit a Gazimon right in front of Greymon's face, destroying it, but backfiring on Greymon.

"Keep it up boys! He's going down one way or another!" Why was I still here behind the bush? Why didn't I go out and help them?

"Digivolve to... Kumamon!" Joey had digivolved to help, but in moments he was being overwhelmed as well.

"Psst! Hey you!" I looked up. Somebody was whispering to me. "Yeah you! Get us out of here while they're distracted!"

"Where are you?" I called out in a low voice, not able to find where the voice was coming from.

"Up here in the second floor of this jail!" The girl was shouting now, not worried about the Gazimon and Pagumon dealing with Kumamon and Greymon. "Get us out of here quick!"

I looked up at the girl and saw that indeed, she was waving at me from behind bars. I didn't recognize her at all, so I figured it was Kristen.

"Is there anybody else in there with you?"

"Yeah! Just hurry!"

I ran up to the wall of the jail and looked up. I didn't see how I was supposed to get them out. I could hear the others beginning to lose the fight. "I hope they make it." At this my digivice began to glow slightly, reminding me that I had Hope. I looked around and found some wooden crates around a corner of the jail, lying in an ally. I dragged them around and stacked them up, making a quick stairway up to the window. "Stand back."

"You're going to try to pull the bars? What are you stupid?" The girl standing at the window was wearing a skeptical look on her face. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a cap on backwards. "Tomboy" I thought to myself.

"I hope this works." It was halfway forced the way I had said hope that time, but I think it helped anyway. As I gripped with my gloves onto the bars, I felt a cooling sensation about my hands. I looked down and saw what looked like light blue fire dancing about my gloves. "And he said I was in over my head." I yanked as hard as I could and fell backwards off the crates. The bars I had grabbed hold of fell away almost effortlessly.

"Oh my god! I can't believe he did it! It defies physics! Jennifer! Wake up!"

"What? Oh. What now?"

"We're free, come on!"

"Free? How?"

"This kid just broke us out." Kristen climbed out of the window, stepped onto the crates, and jumped down to the ground without stepping down any of the others. Oh yeah, she was a tomboy. The Jennifer climbed out. I felt dizzy.

"Long time no see, eh?" Jennifer turned around as she stepped on the highest crate and gasped as she saw me.

"What are you doing here?"

"No time, we gotta get out of here."

"But what about our digivices!?" Kristen was standing beside me, looking at me like I was stupid. "You don't think we would have been locked in there unless they took them from us, do you? And what about Tentomon!?"

"You have a partner?" I recalled the name.

"Yes, I think he's in another cell. He was busted up when we got here."

"You should have told me that beforehand. Come on!" I began to climb the crates to get into the cell. Jennifer got the idea and climbed back in the jail while Kristen followed me. I hopped in the window and looked around. There were two tables, on opposite walls, being supported by chains hooked into the concrete walls; they must have been the beds. Other than that there was a toilet, a sink, and that was it.

"Now what? Are you going to pull that little trick of yours on the cell door?" Kristen was being a real smart-ass, something I never expected from a girl.

"Exactly." I stood in front of the gate and closed my eyes. I relaxed for a second and could feel a slight chill running down my arms to my hands. I opened my eyes and saw the light blue flame around my gloves again. I grabbed hold of the door and yanked as hard as I could again. It gave way without much effort and I tossed it aside. "They don't build jails like they used to."

"Quit doing that! It doesn't make sense!"

"Haven't you figured it out yet? Nothing makes sense here!" I laughed and ran out into the hall. There were four cells and at one end of the hall there was a table with two digivices on it; one pink & white, the other yellow & white. You two get them and I'll find Tentomon." They nodded in agreement and ran down the hall. I looked in the cell next to the one we had been in and found Tentomon lying unconscious on the ground. "Hey man, wake up." The bug jumped up at the sound of my unfamiliar voice.

"Who are you?" I found his voice just as annoying as Agumon's. "I'm your ticket out of this place. Now stand back." I focused and removed the door the same was as the other, but I was beginning to get tired, fast. It was easy and awesome the way I could make the flames appear, but it wore me out. "Come... on... now." I was gasping for breath. I had to quit using the digivice so much or I wouldn't have anymore energy to get away from the village.

"Kristen!?" Tentomon ran out of the cell and called out to her. "There you are! I was worried they might have hurt you!"

"Don't worry, they wouldn't hurt a girl." She turned to me and winked. It bothered me; it felt like the twelve year old girl was flirting with me. Three years difference still makes a difference at that age. What bothered me more was that Jennifer wasn't saying anything, she simply followed Kristen around, even tough she was the older one.

"Jen?" It was as good a time as any to try calling her that. She looked up at me. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure."

"No you're not. I can tell. Say something. If you can stand to talk with those air-headed girls and jocks at school, you can stand to talk to us, to me." I thought to myself, where was this coming from? I always fumbled with words around girls like Jen and here I was, huffing and dizzy, talking like some poet. She smiled.

"Thanks. I'll try to remember that." There was a glitter in her bright green eyes, replacing the dull look that had been present just a moment ago. Before I could say something back we heard a crash outside, followed by a hurrah.

"Oh no, I forgot about the others! Come on! They need us!"

"Others?"

"Others here to help break you out. Come on!" She waited a moment.

"Okay."

We hopped out the window, Kristen and Tentomon waiting for us outside. Once we were all together, we rounded corner only to find Agumon, Chris, and Joey tied together. They had been defeated and devolved. Groups of injured Gazimon and Pagumon lied against the walls of buildings around the town plaza.

"You won't get away with this! Just wait until I turn back into Kumamon!"

"Yeah right kid. I'll be taking that now." The older looking Gazimon from earlier approached Joey to take his digivice as we rounded the corner of the jail and came in sight of them.

"Hold it, biatch." I called out to the elder Gazimon with Kristen, Tentomon, and Jennifer in two.

"What? More of them? Ha! We finally have all... wait. There are too many of you! There are only supposed to be four!"

"Not this again." I muttered to myself. The fact that I was here was complicating things again. "You're wrong, there are five of us and there is no way you can take us down."

"Yeah!" Kristen had stepped up beside me along with Tentomon. "You ready?"

"Anytime! Tentomon digivolve to... Kabuterimon!" They had already figured out how to digivolve. I had hoped they would but I had my doubts. Jen was standing behind us. "Let them go!" Kabuterimon began to fly into the air for the fight. As he flew forward, Kristen ran with him. I ran back to Jen.

"I thought you were fine? Aren't you going to help us?"

"I can't."

"Why not? You have a digivice! Hell, I'm not even supposed to be here and I'm helping."

"BECAUSE I'VE GOT THE CREST OF LOVE! IT ISN'T RIGHT! THERE'S BEEN A MISTAKE!"

"Nonsense. People love you and I know that you must love somebody." I still didn't know where I was coming up with these words.

"Well, there is one per..." Her digivice interrupted her; it glowing a brilliant pink and shaking. She began to be surrounded in light. "What's happening!?" She was digivolving. When the light cleared a much taller figure stood where she had. She had wings now and what looked like a visor over her eyes, but it had no slits to look through. She wasn't wearing much other than what was necessary to keep things PG-13, along with a pair of tall white boots. Her hair had changed color to purple as well. I whipped out my digivice.

"Hi... Kazemon... Champion digimon. You going to help us or not?"

"Wow! This is amazing! I can _feel_ stronger!"

"Then come on!" We caught up with Kristen and Kabuterimon, who were holding their own, but just barely. Kristen had untied the others, but they couldn't seem to digivolve. Chris was screaming at the Gazimon until he saw Kazemon, at which he promptly got a vacant, drooling look on his face. I walked up behind him.

"Quit that you pervert." I whacked him on the back of his head and he came to.

"Ow! Hey! I wasn't doing anything wrong! I was just..."

"I won't say what you were doing because Joey is here but believe me, I'm three years older than you, I've done just about everything you've done and then some. Don't lie to me about something stupid like that." Chris just blushed, turning redder than his digivice. "Come on, we still have a fight to win."

Kazemon and Kabuterimon were amazing. The winds and lighting they fired upon the remaining Gazimon were beginning to blow in clouds. "Hurricane Wind!" Another blast of wind tore through the Pagumon, throwing them into the walls of the street and into other Pagumon and Gazimon.

"Electro Shocker!' The ball of electricity hit the ground, now covered in water from busted pipes beneath the ground. We all know what happens when lightning is conducted across water. Dozens of digimon fell.

"We need reinforcements!" The Gazimon leader shouted out among the few remaining digimon and made a run for it. I gave chase while the others mopped up the Pagumon.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Back off kid, I can take you one on one easily."

"Oh really? Come on; give me your best shot."

"Electric Stun Blast!" The shock hit me harder than I thought it would. It was the first time I had ever actually been hit head on by a digimon's attack; it hurt. I kneeled down for a moment. I'd like to say that it was from exhaustion, but then I'd be lying.

"Oh, did I hurt you? You poor thing, let me put you out of your misery."

"You've got it backwards." I dashed up to him. "Lights out." I focused the rest of myself into that last punch, the light blue flame flickering to life, and watched—somewhat pleased and somewhat horrified—as the Gazimon burst into data.

* * *

"You're kidding me! You fought off the entire village?" We were back at Gennai's—all of us. We had told him the story, but didn't exactly get the response we had hoped for. "You will have to fight of evil digimon, yes, but those Gazimon and Pagumon were innocent!"

"What!? How can you say that? They jailed us! We were set for execution!" Kristen was shouting and stomping about at Gennai's response.

"You were set up for execution by the head Gazimon, who according to you guys, was also destroyed. He was the only one that needed to be... dealt with. The others should have been let be."

"But they attacked us! We just wanted to talk!" Joey was mad now. "They attacked us first! They started it!"

"But who ordered them to attack?" We all hesitated at this; we knew it had been their leader.

"Why did they follow his orders? They could have easily disobeyed him!" Chris, for the first time in a long time, said something that made sense. Shocking, if you think about it.

"You think he was alone? You are all very naïve. Did it ever cross your mind that maybe somebody with greater strength was keeping him in power? Why else would he want to have you killed? He personally would have no reason, but say somebody with something to gain from your death, somebody with more power would love to see you stopped."

"Then why didn't Daemon fight us himself?" I slipped.

"Excuse me?"

"Um... I retract my previous statement."

"Who?" Jennifer shot me in one of those 'you're hiding something and I know it' looks that I always saw in movies.

"All of you to bed, now. You have had a long day and it is beginning to get to your heads. You too James. I know you are exhausted after your arrogant display of your digivice."

"But..." Gennai cut me off. He was furious that I had mentioned Daemon.

"Now, before you really piss me off." We all stood there in shock. Never did we think that Gennai, friendly, crazy, wise Gennai, would ever say something like that. His next outburst was just as much so.

"NOW!" We all ran down the hall and into our rooms.


	8. Interlude: Who Do You Love

**Interlude: Who Do You Love?**

"Jennifer?" I tapped lightly on the door so that I wouldn't accidentally attract Gennai's attention. I couldn't fall asleep and what Jennifer had said back at the Gazimon village had been nagging at me all night.

"Just a second." I could hear her shuffling around in the room—I guess she was making sure she was decent. A few moments later the door opened. "Oh, hey James. What do you need?" She was dressed in a silky pink gown that I guessed she had found in the drawers in the bedroom—I had found a few sets of clothes in my own room, but I hated them all. Her brown hair fell straight down like she had just gotten out of the shower. The same, reoccurring dizzy spell came back.

"I just wanted to ask you something." We both stood in the doorway and I could hear Gennai cough from his den. "Could I come in?" I whispered now, nervous that Gennai had heard us.

"Sure." Jennifer gave in pretty easily and stepped out of the way, letting me in, and quietly closing the door behind her. "What is it?" Straight to the point...

"I was just wondering what you meant earlier. You know, that you had the Crest of Love and it was a mistake." Jennifer lowered her head a bit. Her hair fell down to the sides and I couldn't see her eyes anymore.

"Oh..." She didn't say anything and the room became uncomfortably silent. "It's... it's nothing." I couldn't decide whether or not to just leave her be, or to try and force some information about her. Normally I would have been just as much of a brash jerk as Chris, but something told me not to be this time.

"Are you sure?" Jennifer nodded and I thought I saw her eyes water a little bit. The room seemed to get dimmer, like a thin, black fog had pervaded the house. "Okay." I got off her bed and walked to the door, stopping just before I opened it. "Oh, one more thing. You never did finish telling me who you loved."

"What?" She looked up, the water in her eyes seemingly drawing away instantly. I thought she was blushing a little. "Oh, I was just sort of down right then and you were being kind I guess." I felt a burning sensation all over my face. I knew I was turning a cherry red.

"Real... really?" I smiled. Jennifer's eyes grew wide.

"Oh no! I didn't mean it like that... it was just spur of the moment." I wanted to get out of the room as fast as possible. It had gone from sort of romantic in a caring sense to just being really uncomfortable.

"Alright, well, I just wanted to make sure. Good night." I opened the door and slowly stepped out.

"Good night." She said softly and I felt like melting and seeping through the floorboards right there. I closed the door behind me and snuck across the hall to my own room. I changed into a pair of really baggy gym shorts to sleep in—my jeans didn't exactly seem to fit right at the moment—and crashed.

But I didn't really get to sleep much.

I never got to sleep.


	9. Ch 7: Endless Nightmares

**Chapter 7: Endless Nightmares**

"Jennifer, you attack from the left! Joey, you go in from the right! I'm taking him head on!" Blizagamon and Tempesmon fired at the same time, unleashing a blizzard storm upon the dark beast unlike any other to ever have existed, including during the Ice Age. I ran at him from the front, flowing every ounce of hope and power I had in preparation for my attack.

"Celestial Fist!" The attacks slammed into him with amazing force; the power of three Megas had to be more than enough to stop him, no matter how powerful he was.

"Mwa ha ha..." The sinister laugh engulfed us. "You still think you have a chance? Forget it! Love, Friendship, Hope, they are all tools of the weak." The creature leveled another city block effortlessly.

"You won't get away with this!" Joey had really grown up. He fired his blizzards upon it again, but to no avail.

"I already have. DOOM'S REQUIEM!" A blast of what can only be described as pure darkness shot at Blizzagamon, blowing him into millions of bits of data. However, before they could go far, the monster absorbed them, the same way he had done all the others.

"NO!" Joey was gone. How could he be gone?

"You're nothing but a monster! How could you do this to those who are innocent?" Tempestmon raged against him, but met Joey's fate. I watched in horror as Jennifer's data was absorbed.

"You've taken everything from me. I will kill you, if I have to die over and over for all of eternity, even if I have to become like you, I will kill you."

"Give me your best shot." I could feel the energy whipping about through me, gathering itself again in my hands, my gloves. But instead of attacking, I waited longer.

"Well? I'm waiting. I am offering you a free shot, punk. That way, you can dwell on your pathetic honor forever as a part of me, heh." And yet I hesitated. I felt like I was about to burst, as the energy I focused began to overcharge.

"This is your last warning. Hit me now so that I may kill you, or you can just die where you stand."

"HOLY NOVA!!!" I could feel the blast empty out of me, throwing such force towards him, that I was recoiled into a building three blocks away. It was hard to get good traction on the wet road. I watched as the fiery looking beam, larger than some five story tall buildings, impacted him. "I can only hope." As the shot dissipated, I saw him standing there, crouching slightly; I had only winded him.

"Very nice, if I still needed troops, I would draft you in an instant. Oh well, I'll put your power to good use. DOOM'S REQUIEM!" The darkness hit me. Pain, endless, unimaginable pain. I could feel all my fears, all my darkest memories arise within me at the same time. The darkest parts of my life flashed before my eyes as I finally lost my last ounces of hope forever...

* * *

"AHHH!!!" I was sitting up in the bed, in a cold sweat. I looked around trying to reassure myself that it had just been another nightmare. Gennai ran in the room.

"What's wrong!?" He saw me sitting up, breathless with my eyes wide open. "Are you okay? What was it this time?"

"He was in the real world. He didn't kill us, he made us him. He absorbed us; everyone. Digimon, digidestined, the world; he absorbed existence." I was shaking violently and ran to bathroom. It was a dry heave, thankfully, so I didn't have to deal with the disgusting taste you get when you hurl.

"I'm sorry James; there is nothing I can do about nightmares. Can you go back to sleep?" Gennai was still standing there in his robe when I stumbled back from the restroom. The thought made me stop. Go back to sleep and face that horror again? I'd rather die.

"No, I'm done sleeping for the night." I looked at the clock: 2:00 AM. "Is there any coffee left?"

"Yes, go make some and relax. Maybe you can go back to sleep later." Yeah right, every time I closed my eyes a new death awaited me. "I'm going back to bed. Try and get some sleep James, you've been awake for days."

"I'll be fine." With that he returned to his room.

* * *

"James, there is something I've wanted to tell you." Jennifer and I held each other close. It was like one of those final scenes in a romance movie where the protagonists finally kiss. "I love you. I've always loved you. It's because of you that I have the Crest of Love." We hugged romantically for minutes. I wanted this to last forever. "Kiss me." As we came closer, she blew apart. Data scattered everywhere as I opened my eyes. Daemon stood behind where Jennifer had once been.

"Your turn lover boy."

* * *

"Hey James! Gennai's been calling to you for ten minutes! You're going to miss breakfast!" I forced my eyes open and looked at the doorway. Chris was standing there impatiently. He didn't really care if I ever got up; he just wanted to go eat.

"I'll be down in a second." I looked at the clock: 8:00 AM. Gennai was usually kind enough to let us sleep in. I tried to think of why he would be getting us up early, but I was too tired. The nightmares had been coming more often than before, appearing whenever I closed my eyes, since I fell asleep whenever I did. Exhaustion weighed heavily on me as I dragged myself out of bed and into the hall. I had slept with my clothes on, too tired to take them off at night, including my shoes. I just lied on the covers and let sleep come on its own; it never took long.

"Hey James! Come on, Gennai made Cinnamon Rolls!" Another first. Gennai always made Japanese food. Why was he acting so differently? Joey had came to try where Chris had failed at getting me up. I turned the corner.

"You're not Gennai." I blurted without thinking. Kristen gave me a crushing look.

"Wow, you amaze me how much more ignorant you get every day."

"I thought you would never notice." The man, who looked exactly like Gennai and wore the same robes turned around from the cinnamon rolls he was putting icing on. Kristen just gave him a shocked look.

"What?"

"I'm not Gennai; I'm an associate of his. He went to the creators for the day. He'll be back by this evening."

"How long can that be? I mean, it didn't get sunny until just a few minutes ago." The house may have been underwater, but the sun still shined through the water and windows, dancing on the floors throughout the house.

"It's longer than you think. Oops." The man dropped the pack of icing on one of the cinnamon rolls, messing up the carefully placed icing on it. "And you'd think I'd be more experienced at this than Gennai!" The man laughed and fixed his mistake.

"Why did he go?" Jennifer didn't say much, so we all paid attention whenever she said something. It was odd; at school, she never shut up.

"He had some questions and some business to take care of." Translation: None of your damn business.

We ate the cinnamon rolls, which tasted like some generic brand from a grocery store, and went about our usual day of figuring out how the heck to work our digivices. Everybody, except me of course, could digivolve, but they weren't very skilled at controlling themselves. We would fight each other to train some and then just run around tearing up Gennai's house having fun. I trained some with the others, but I found it more helpful to train by myself. I had a lot of trouble bringing up the flames because I was tired, not to mention that having to jump about worrying about what the others were about to do didn't help me any. Agumon and Tentomon trained some too, but really sat back giving tips to Kazemon and Kumamon about fighting as a digimon. It was really pretty funny. Kazemon would end up blowing winds into herself and Kumamon ended up freezing various parts of the room, including the rest of us on various occasions. Agumon would have to melt the ice to get us out.

Gennai arrived late in the afternoon and relieved his friend of babysitting us, who by the way never told us his name. "Everybody! Hurry here! Now!" I was in the kitchen chugging my third coffee that evening; I was living on caffeine. "I have some good news and some bad news." Everybody stood around Gennai and waited.

"You're going home." Cheering ensues. "Wait, I'm not done yet. That's the good news. The bad news is that you are going home."

"What? How could that be bad news?"

"Remember Chris, I told you that you all would have to save both worlds. It seems our timetables have just been severely truncated. The worlds are merging."

"What does that mean?" I was reminded that Joey was still a little kid. He acted older than some of us sometimes, but there was a lot he still didn't understand.

"The worlds are beginning to link to each other. That means portals are opening up that digimon are using to get to your world. I don't think the worlds are close enough yet for powerful, evil digimon to get though, but they soon will be. You are going home, but to fight."

"How do we get home?"

"Do any of you remember how Myotismon got to the real world?"

"Yeah! That was a great one! He went through that big door with those cards!" Joey filled the silence; nobody would answer to that one, even though we knew the answer. We were afraid what it might mean.

"That's right Joey. That gate was left unsealed after the original digidestined went through. However, the portal behind it closed, leaving the gate to open to nothing but wall. Now that the worlds are close again, the portal has reappeared. The dark gods have realized this and have sent their generals to go take it. The castle is back under evil command."

"The dark gods?" The tension was building in the room. Kristen was the only one that stood with a straight face. Everybody else was wearing worried or sad looks. "Who are they?"

"The dark gods are..."

"The most evil, twisted digimon to have ever existed. Daemon and another, unidentified digimon are who have been pulling the worlds together to take them both over. They've sent their minions to stop us from getting back." I cut off Gennai. He looked at me with a disapproving frown, but picked up where I left off.

"That's right. Frostkawagamon, the Meramon, that Gazimon, they were all working for the dark gods. They are determined to either rule or destroy both worlds. They have been biding their time, waiting for the other Virus type digimon to be reborn in Primary Village. You must hurry to Myotismon's castle and get to the real world before the Generals get there to organize the invasion."

"Invasion!?" We all shouted in unison; I'm sure somebody whispered 'Jinx', but I don't know who.

"You don't think they don't learn from their mistakes, do you? Whenever they try to do it alone, they are defeated. They are working in numbers and power now. You all must do the same."

"How?" Chris was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, peeved that they had to go home to fight harder.

"The portal leads to Japan and it just so happens I have a few more things for you to take with you." Gennai zipped open a black, leather bag he had brought with him and pulled out eggs.

"Digieggs." Joey whispered to himself in awe.

"Primary Village is a shambles. Luck is on our side that I found these."

"But you said they wouldn't remember." Kristen pointed out Gennai's earlier comments as he placed the two eggs in one of our backpacks He went about and did the same until all the packs carried two of the ten digieggs.

"They will when they see these." Tears were welling up in Agumon's and Tentomon's eyes.

"But what about us? We can't be partners to two people!" Tentomon was a bit repulsive. It isn't often you see a two foot tall fly cry.

"You have two duties now, and I suggest you fulfill them both. You're old friends gave more than they thought they would when they gave up being digidestined. Besides, you won't have to protect them... physically. They are grown now. They can protect themselves." Agumon pondered at what Gennai had said for a moment then looked up.

"What do you mean 'physically'?" Gennai acted like he didn't hear him.

"Now go, every second you waste here is another digimon you will have to fight to get home." We grabbed our bags.

"James."

"Need something Gennai?"

"Here." He handed me a bottle of Nyquil and a box. "There is coffee in there for if you need it. I suggest though, you take that Nyquil when you stop for camp and finish this whole nightmare thing. You don't have time for foolishness like this."

"Yes sir. Um... thanks. You're a real pal man." Gennai was awestruck for a moment. He had been helping digidestined for a long time, but I don't think he had ever met kids like us. I would of grabbed his hand and done the 'Split-Second, knock the wind out of your friend when you impact' hug, but Gennai was rushing us out the door.

"Watch your thoughts and moves. Your nightmares aren't natural and before this night is over, you will have to face your fears." The water split and we walked up the stairs out of the lake. We all took turns saying goodbye.

"By Gennai!" Joey jumped; he was afraid Gennai wouldn't see him by us because he was short.

"See ya dude!" Goggles and all waved.

"Thank you Gennai!" Jennifer was smiling, which made me smile. It was contagious.

"Farewell!" Kristen would always stand out because of her intelligence.

"Peace out man!" Hey, I had a cool image I had to keep up. I had my shades lying on my head, with my gloves closed tightly around my digivice. I felt like I had a job to do, a purpose. The sun set as the water crashed back, sending us on our way at last.

* * *

We had walked for about two miles before we decided we were tired of tripping up on roots, rocks, sticks, and each other in the dark shadows of the forest.

"Hey! Gennai put in more stuff in our packs!" Chris was right. We each had gotten one more thing, each on unique. Jennifer had a lightweight pan for cooking in the wild over a campfire. Kristen had a book filled with information on digimon and a jar of peanut butter.

"I think that one is for me Kristen!" Tentomon hovered eagerly by her when she pulled out the peanut butter.

Joey had a new blue sweater, since his last one had been used ragged as a bag and medical equipment during our travel through the deserts. He had been walking around with just his light blue t-shirt. Chris had a new pair of familiar looking goggles. The ones he had worn here were dry-rotted from the elements. The new ones looked really durable. Gennai had also packed some hot sauce for Agumon. Me, I didn't find anything, so I guessed the coffee had been my gift. To tell the truth I used to hate coffee, but after weeks of drinking it, I had acquired a taste for it.

We set up camp and lit a fire. We didn't cook anything but just ate some oranges and apples Gennai had packed. We had eaten before we had left.

"Good night everybody." Jennifer lied down and fell asleep in no time, along with Joey, Agumon, Tentomon, and Kristen, leaving Chris and I alone.

"I see why you lied."

"Say what?"

"I see why you lied about knowing them."

"I only lied about Jennifer, I really didn't know Kristen."

"Is that why you two flirt so much?"

"Dude! She is, like, three years younger than me! It may not matter in twenty years, but right now it does! You are a sick man with a sick mind; you know that?"

"Hey, nothing wrong with watching over the flocks by night."

"Wow, perverted for a twelve year old, aren't we? Have you even hit puberty yet?"

"Hey man, I'm thirteen. There is a world of difference."

"What difference? A few days maybe? You may be thirteen, but you act like a twenty year old geek staring at porno on the web."

"Take that back!"

"Make me, short man." In reality Chris was only a little shorter than Jen and I. I'd guess about 5'4". Chris jumped up and ran over to kick me while I was still sitting back against a tree. I caught dodged him and pulled his other leg out from under him. He fell with a thud and only got angrier.

"Poor baby, likes girls and fights like one too!" Jennifer and Kristen would of smoked me if they had heard that, but thankfully they slept through the fighting.

"Shut up!" It was fun making Chris angry.

"Surely you can come up with a better comeback than that. Whatever, just go back to 'watching over the flocks.' I've got z's to catch."

"No! I'm not done with you!" Chris was standing nearly in the campfire. I was amazed that his sneakers didn't catch fire.

"Yeah well I'm done with you." I sat down where I had been a few seconds earlier and leaned against the tree, pulling my shades down over my eyes so I could sleep. Chris just stood stupefied, unsure of what to say. I assume he was feeling the same way I did when Gennai had stayed calm against my rash fury.

* * *

I opened my eyes and knew something was wrong. I lifted my shades and tried to look around. I couldn't see anything; it was completely black.

"Chris? Jen? Joey? Agumon? Somebody!?" I yelled into the darkness and stood up. I looked down, I could see myself clearly like it was noon, but I was walking in darkness.

"What is going on here?"

"Mwa ha ha..."

"Who's there?" I jerked around and tried to see where the laughing was coming from.

"You're mine now. Every group has one, the odd one out."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know it, don't you? Remember? Matt, Ken, Koji; they were all the darker ones. But I never thought I would be so lucky as to get the Digidestined of Hope."

"You, you're the one causing my nightmares." Fear began to trickle down my spine. This must have been what Gennai had warned me about. I recalled what he said. 'Watch your thoughts and movements.'

"Intuitive are we? Well you see, I thrive and live on the darkness within the children who come here. However, those damned digivices you all carry around make my survival significantly harder. I often had to attain outside help to get you all isolated and draw out the darkness within you, but you were different. You were brimming with dark thoughts and dreams. Best of all, you had no digivice and when you finally did get one, it changed to match your pain, your evil."

"Kiss my ass and get out of my head. Do them in either order, I care not." I closed my eyes and cleared my head to bring up the fire around my gloves.

"Oh no, you don't get to do that. Not here. Here I make the rules." My eyes opened back up involuntarily and I could feel myself being jerked about, shadow images of myself following me like a mouse tail on Windows.

"This is my mind, get out!"

"No, it is mine now, along with all of the others."

"What?"

"I know you have noticed Jennifer. She was particularly easy to conquer, even with her digivice. She has the crest of that which she knows not."

"Nonsense. She knows love, and if she doesn't, then I'll show her what love is."

"Oh? I see the sparks beginning to fly between the dark ones. Ha, I'll stop it before it ever becomes a threat!" A floor flew up and stopped at my feet as a light began to come from nowhere. "You say it is your mind, lets see how well you know it." The platform was large, about the size of a city block. Around it was a bottomless drop-off. The sky about me and around the place was a mix of night and fire. It was a dark sky with splotches of what looked like where the sky itself was on fire.

"Where am I?"

"Your mind. This is what it looks like. Chaotic isn't it?"

"Bullshit."

"Fine, I'll prove it." The platform began to spin rapidly, making me dizzy and blurring my vision. I could tell things were changing, but I couldn't see how. When the spinning stopped, I was laying down, on a trampoline; my trampoline.

"Justin!?" I called out, no response.

"Justin!!?" Still no response. Please not again. I jumped on the trampoline and saw him floating face down in the pool.

"JUSTIN!!!" I jumped off the trampoline and nearly broke my leg. I ran through the bushes, but I didn't jump into the pool.

"Wait, this can't be real. That's not Justin." The child floating in the pool was shorter than my little brother. He wore a light blue sweatshirt and blue jeans. He had on white sneakers and had blonde hair. "Oh no." I climbed down from the bushes, which were elevated and separated by a wall from the pool. I stepped in and rolled over the body; it was Joey. I would have yelled, but I choked on my own breath. I felt like passing out, but something stopped me.

"This still isn't real."

"Of course it is."

"No, if this were real, the tree-house would be up there."

"What!?" It was true; a large oak was in my home's backyard and had a tree-house my dad had built in it. It wasn't there.

"This is an illusion."

"No its not! Grrr..." The world began to spin again and I lost my vision. When it came back, I was in the city with the beast of darkness destroying everything. Joey and Jennifer stood by me, ready to digivolve.

"Give us the word James."

"Don't."

"What? Why? We have to stop them."

"Because this isn't real." I turned to Jen. "You aren't real! You can't fool me! You're illusions are worthless!"

"Then if I can't make you destroy yourself then I'll have to do it myself." I could see a new darkness flowing into the manifestation leveling the imaginary city. Jen and Joey were gone, figments in the winds of my mind. The beast grew larger and turned to me.

"This body is mine now! For years I have failed but with you I shall finally succeed! Die!!!" The blast of darkness came at me, hitting me just as before. I could see all of the terrible events of my life flash before my eyes...

"Whitney? Whitney!? Oh my god! Call 911!" A flash and another memory came.

"I love you son!" My dad had tears in his eyes. "I fought but the policemen will be here in a little while to take you to a place downtown!" Another flash.

"Come on mutha fucka." The teen whipped out a knife and took a stab at me, I narrowly dodged it. "Bitch." Another memory, then another; it was nonstop.

"STOP!!! THIS IS MY MIND AND YOU ARE NOT WELCOME!!!" I threw my arms down and the darkness departed. The abomination stood shocked.

"What!? No! It's not possible!"

"I just made it possible. And you know what?" I began to let my energy flow; here, in my imagination, my mind, it was limitless. "You showed me a few new tricks here! HOLY NOVA!" The glittering brilliance left my hands and tore into the creature, almost larger than it had been in my nightmare. I no longer experienced recoil or exhaustion. Here, I ruled, this was my mind and in it anything I wanted could happen.

"There are others you know! Others who will feed off your misery and woe! It is too alluring to be left alone! You are too much a gain!"

"Then they will be destroyed the same way as you." The dark monster gave one last yell and fell apart into what looked like data, but I knew it wasn't. In my mind, there wasn't data, just thoughts and memories. I looked at the new, smaller dark clouds amongst the ruined towers. When I looked into one individually, I would see a haunting memory from my past.

"I'm done here."

* * *

I woke up in a cold sweat and slung the shades off my face. Lying panting in front of me was a digimon. It didn't really have any form, it had no body. I could hear panting but could see no mouth. I pulled out my digivice and scanned him. Memoriamon... Strength Varies.

"I guess you'd be pretty weak now."

"What the? You're awake! No!"

"Remember this?" I focused and punched him. "Celestial Fist!" I watched as he blew apart into data. I thought to myself. Everybody else had names for their attacks and attributes, so why couldn't I? Celestial Fist, it sounded cool and powerful, a perfect for my still newfound power.

I leaned back against the tree and lowered my shades again, but I couldn't fall asleep. I reached into my pack and pulled out the Nyquil.

"Down the hatch."


	10. Ch 8: Tricks and Traps

**Chapter 8: Tricks and Traps**

"Wow that was refreshing!" Memoriamon hadn't been lying. He'd been messing with Jennifer's head too. Either that or she was just a morning person. When she woke up, she showed more energy than since I had broke her out of jail.

"Come on! Let's go! Our world isn't going to save itself!" She was kicking Chris, trying to wake him up.

"You're awfully happy this morning." Chris rolled over and just let her kick his back. He groggily moaned from the kicking.

"Jen, are you feeling okay?" Kristen was up now, rolling up her sleeping bag.

"Okay? I'm feeling better than I have in days! Hey James! You awake?" She was running over and took the shades off my face. I was awake, eyes wide open.

"Boo."

"Ack! Don't do that you cretin!" I thought I saw a wide smile come across Chris' face before he rolled over out of sight.

"Slow down Jen, we have all day. Besides, it's only," I pulled out my digivice and looked at the time, "6:36!? Jeez Jennifer, why so early?"

"I woke up last night to your screaming. I couldn't ever fall back asleep. I felt wide awake so I just stayed up." She had woke up to my screaming?

"What screaming?"

"You were screaming out crazy stuff like 'Super Punch' or something like that in your sleep." I didn't want to tell them about Memoriamon. He had been my problem and I had dealt with him.

"Oh, probably just your imagination." I stood up. "Okay, since were all awake, let's go."

"Everyone isn't awake. What about Joey, Agumon, and Tentomon? Or are they not part of the group? Besides, who elected you leader?" Chris was standing up now. He was trying to get me back for our mishap over night.

"That's a great idea. We could have elections for who's going to be the leader. I vote for Chris."

"What!? Kristen, you're supposed to be the Digidestined of Knowledge! How could you vote for him?" It was like a stab through my heart. I wanted to be the leader.

"Don't worry about it James, I'll vote for you." Dizzy... soooo dizzy. "So now it is Joey's decision."

"Hey Joey!" Chris was impatient and ready to coup me. "Who should be the leader?"

"Hmmm... jus five more minuts mom..."

"Joey! Wake up!"

"Hmmm... goggles..."

"You heard him! He said goggles! I'm the goggle boy of the group! Haha!'

"He's still asleep. Joey my man! Wazzup? Come on man, we need your vote." Joey just rolled over at my voice.

"Dad? Why do idiots always lead the group on this show?" He was talking in his sleep, and rolled over again.

"Yeah Chris, I think you're right. He was voting for you."

* * *

We had been walking slowly for about an hour enjoying the scenery. The forest canopy blocked most of the light, making it always seem like dawn or dusk beneath the trees. As Chris, our newly appointed goggle boy, walked between two trees, we could hear a distinctive 'snap.'

"What was that?" Chris looked down at his shoes, thinking he had stepped on a stick.

"Probably just some digimon in the woods." Kristen had an answer for everything. We walked on, but by the time Joey and Jennifer came through...

"SNAP! WHOOSH!" A hole flew open underneath them, and in they fell. "THUD!"

"Owww... my leg." I could hear Jennifer moaning from in the hole. Chris rushed back to practice being leader.

"Jennifer! Are you okay?"

"Yeah." She stood up and brushed herself off. "Just a few bruises, no biggie."

"Who would dig a hole like this?" Joey was up by now, too. A few moments later I thought I heard a muffled laugh.

"You guys hear that?"

"Yeah. Hey, who's there? Come out!" It hadn't taken long for being the leader to go to Chris' head. "Show yourself!" There were a few more restrained chuckles before whatever it was began to laugh histerically.

"Hahahaha! Oh my god you guys are dumb! Hahaha! Oh man, stop it! It's too much!" What looked like a blackish, bluish ball with wings had fallen out of a tree, rolling in laughter at our misfortune. He wore what looked like a helmet with a skull and crossbones on it. I went to scan it, but Chris cut me off.

"Demidevimon... Rookie! Alright, what do you want?"

"Whoops!" Demidevimon jumped up and took off, flying up into the canopy.

"Smooth Chris. You scared him off before we could get anything out of him."

"Shut up James! You couldn't have done any better!"

"Yeah? I bet you my gloves that the next time he shows up, that I could get some useful information out of him."

"Deal."

* * *

We had been going all day. It was a good thing that there was a compass in the digivice or we would have been lost in no time; everything in the forest looked the same.

"You know," The silence was driving me mad, so I just made something up to talk about, "we really shouldn't call these 'D-3's."

"Why not?" Kristen was intrigued by even the idea of intelligent thought. I think we had starved her of it over the past few days.

"Well, they were originally called D-3's because they had three functions. These have much more. They tell time, direction, scan, digivolve, communicate, show radar, and even digital code."

"So what do we call them, D-7's?"

"Nah, that sounds dumb." Chris jumped in, hoping to sound smart.

"How about D-Advanced?" Joey was running after us, since we had forgotten he couldn't walk as fast as we could.

"No, on the show they always made it sound like a word that started with a 'D' or something like that."

"How'd you know that Kristen?" Jennifer turned to her, somewhat shocked that she knew anything about the shows.

"Well..." Kristen was humiliated and searched for a way out. "It could pop up as useless trivia in a quiz bowl. Gotta stay up to date on modern animated programming!"

"What about the D-X?" I liked the letter X. You could slap it on anything and make it sound cool.

"That makes the least sense of them all." Chris stopped altogether to take advantage of making me look dumb.

"Actually, it makes the most sense Chris. Haven't you taken Algebra?" Mwa ha ha, the tables were turned.

"Yeah, X can stand for any number, it's a variable. If we call it that and find any more operations, we won't have to rename it." Game, Set, Match. Thank you Kristen! Chris just turned his head down and walked away.

"Do we really need another name for them? I mean 'D-3' sounds fine to me." Agumon and Tentomon were often looked over, since they were a couple feet shorter than the rest of us.

"We gotta have a new name! Every group of digidestined got their own special digivice." Joey began to get hyped again about being a digidestined. "Heyyyy! Maybe they'll make a show about us! I'd be on TV! That would be awesome!" I heard another muffled chuckle like earlier.

"Demi-dart!" What looked like a syringe flew from the shadows and hit Agumon in the neck.

"Ow! What was... wha..." Agumon passed out before he could finish his sentence.

"Demi-dart!" Everybody was scrambling now, but the dart hit Kristen shoulder anyway.

"You jerk! What's in he... da..." She landed with a thud.

"Yeah James! You're doing a great job getting information out of him!"

"Shut up! Why don't you come out from behind that tree of yours and ask him yourself!"

"I would if," A dart hit him in the back, "I wasn't hit." He fell against the tree and slid down on his side, a dull look in his eyes.

"Stop it you rat with wings!" Another dart flew out, this one at me, as I came out from behind the tree. I dived to the ground and watch the dart ricochet off the ground behind me. I jumped up and ran into the darkness. "Come on you three! We've gotta catch him!" Tentomon, Joey, and Jennifer followed me as I ran into the woods, holding out my gloves, now lit ablaze as I focused energy into them.

"My job here is done!"

"Yeah, but I'm not losing my gloves because of your wuss ass!"

"Grrr... Demi-dart!" Another dart flew at me and whizzed past my head. His aim was off, but I didn't want to think of what would happen if it hit me in the eye or anything.

"Missed stupid! Come on guys, help me out!"

"Right!" Jennifer pulled out her digivice and activated it. "Digivolve to... Kazemon!"

"I'm with ya James! Digivolve to... Kumamon!"

"Oh why did Kristen have to get hit? Come back here you fiend!" Tentomon was furious and buzzed past us, chasing the silhouette of Demidevimon. "Super Shocker!" The bolt of electricity hit Demidevimon head on and he fell to the ground. I dived on top of him before he could recover and take off again. It was much like holding a soccer ball; that is if a soccer ball ever tried to fight you.

"Let go of me! Demi-dart!" I felt the syringe drive into my chest.

"Ow! You bastard! What are you doing h...ere?" I could feel myself getting tired.

"Like I'd tell you. You'll be out cold in no time." I yawned.

"Yeah, but they won't." Kumamon and Kazemon stood around Demidevimon, ready to attack at the slightest provocation. "Why are you here?" I had a hard time holding him to the ground with the dart still stuck in my chest, the poison seeping through my body.

"Oh man... Myotismon sent me! Okay? Now let me go!"

"What does he want?" Kazemon took up the questioning, seeing I was pretty much holding Demidevimon down sub-consciously.

"Forget it! It's too late! It doesn't matter anymore!"

"Why not?"

"Because he already has what he came for! Hahahaha! Demi-dart!" He jammed another in my chest, even though I was easily out cold. He loosened himself and began to fly off.

"Blizzard Blaster!" Kumamon fired his bazooka at Demidevimon and watched him freeze solid and fall back to the ground.

"Super Shocker!" The last zap finally blew Demidevimon into data.

"James!" Kazemon flapped her wings, blowing gusts on me. "Wake up! We have to get back to the others! They're in danger!" The wind finally blew me over and she saw the two darts in my chest, right beside each other, shoved in my ribs. "Oh no! Come on Joey!"

"Tentomon, you stay here and make sure nothing happens to him!"

"I won't let you down!"

* * *

"Where are they?" Kazemon quickly looked around, trying to find where Chris, Agumon, and Kristen were.

"Crimson Whip!" A red whip of energy shot out from the darkness and knocked Kazemon to the ground.

"Where'd that come from!?" Kumamon was panicking. "Blizzard Blaster!" He spun about, sending snowballs in random directions. Kazemon began to get up.

"Crimson Whip!" Myotismon stepped out of the darkness, letting the snowballs hit him. He struck down the two repetitively, reveling in their screams of pain. Finally they devolved.

"What did you do to my servant?"

"Who are you?" Jennifer looked up, pushing herself off the ground. Myotismon just cracked his whip on her back again. She spat up blood and fell again.

"You will say only what I tell you to say. Where is my servant? Where is Demidevimon?" Jennifer didn't get back up; she couldn't stand the pain of that whip. Joey had yet to feel it yet, though.

"We destroyed him! He deserv... Owww!" The crack of the whip made Myotismon smile.

"So, you destroyed my pet, did you? I guess I'll just have to find some replacements until he is reborn at Primary Village. Let's go and wait there until he does, that way, we can have plenty of time together to get to know one another."

"Were not going anywhere!" Joey cried out, tears now flowing freely. Myotismon simply hit him again. "Please quit! James!!! Help!!!"

"Oh? There is another one of you? I guess I'll have to go and find him. I swear, information is hard enough to come by without worthless digimon getting it wrong all the time."

"No! Leave him be!" Jennifer was now standing up fully. "He isn't even supposed to be here!"

"What did I say?" The whip fell on her shoulders and she fell to her knees. "Speak when spoken to and never else!" He was merciless, soaking in every scream until she finally passed out from shock. Joey just cried harder, so, he faced the brunt of the Crimson Whip as well.

"Never cry. Crying is for the weak, as is friendship and love. That is why you two are on the ground and I stand here disciplining you." Joey should never have had to take that. He was facing pain at eight that most grown people would die in the face of. He too soon passed out. "Hmm... wouldn't want to hunt on an empty stomach." Myotismon lowered his head down to Jennifer's neck and sucked. He made sure not to take so much blood as to kill her though; he still had uses for her. "Now where is this James?"


	11. Ch 9: Primary Objective

**Chapter 9: Primary Objective**

"What was that?" Tentomon turned to face the direction where Kazemon and Kumamon had left. A few moments later, a scream of pain shot from the darkness of the forest. It was only late afternoon, but the trees blocked the sun. "James! Wake up! I think the others are in trouble!" I was still unconscious from the Demi-darts. "Wake up you lazy jerk! Super Shocker!" The bolt shocked me to life like a defibrillator and I sat up.

"Ow! What was that for?" I looked around. My head was pounding like I had been sitting in front of speakers at a concert. My chest was sore from the Demi-darts, which were still pressed in. I pulled them out slowly, wincing with every slight movement. I asked again when I was done. "Tentomon, what's going on? Where is everybody?"

"Demidevimon said Myotismon had the others. Kazemon and Kumamon went back to find them."

"James! Ahhhh!" Joey's screams pierced my head. I jumped up and ran in their direction.

"No! Don't go James! It's a trap!" Tentomon floated helplessly. "Oh, Izzy was never this hard to deal with."

I could still hear the screams. They were agonizing, each one tearing at me as if I was the one bearing the pain. I stopped short of the source and looked around.

"Now where is this James?" Mytotismon stood looking in the direction Joey had yelled. I was behind a tree though. What could I do? The only one that could defeat Mytoismon before was Angewomon, and I had her digiegg in by pack. I could hear Joey softly whimpering.

"What did I tell you about crying? Crimson Whip!"

"NO!" I dashed out and turned my back to the whip; I could feel it hit, searing my back as if fire had hit it.

"Oh, there he is." The whip came down again, this time on my shoulders. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes from the pain.

"Celestial Fist!" Rage flowed freely inside me. The pain was nothing compared to the hatred I suddenly felt against Myotismon. My fist hit him in the chest and he stepped back.

"That was a mistake." The whip came down again, but I caught it. "Another mistake." I could feel myself get slung into the air and I lost hold of the whip. He began to strike me with it in mid-air. I hit the ground hard and struggled to get up.

"Get up and I'll kill you."

"Kiss my ass." The whip came down again and again.

"Still want to get up?" My arms were shaking and throbbing as I slowly pushed myself up. I wouldn't let him do this.

"Zero Fist!" I jumped up and hit him again, but my attack was different this time. Instead of the light blue flame and streak of energy, it was black. I couldn't control myself anymore. "Zero Fist!" I punched over and over, many of my attacks missing completely. Myotismon was puzzled.

"What's this?" I couldn't see clearly anymore. Everything was changing colors, from red to blue to black, like a dark tie-dye. As I raged, Myotismon looked over me, trying to figure out what was going on. His eyes fell on my digivice and grew wide. "Aha! This changes everything." I was too 'busy' to notice what he was talking about. Tentomon finally caught up with us.

"James! Get out of here and get to Primary Village!" A friendly voice broke me from my attack. I blinked a few times and processed what he had said.

"Oh no you don't, you're coming with me." Myotismon tried to whip me again, but Tentomon flew in the way. The whip knocked him to the ground. I picked up my pack and began to run.

"Hurry! Don't worry about me! I'll meet you there!" Myotismon stomped on Tentomon and held him to the ground with his foot.

"Yes, you will." Myotismon let his whip fly again and blew Tentomon to pieces. He looked back up and around. "Primary Village..." He trailed off into his thoughts and clapped. Two Ogremon ran up to him.

"Take these two to the rest and prepare to move out. We're headed to Primary Village."

"Yes sir!" The two Ogremon saluted their leader and trailed off into the forest carrying Joey and Jennifer over their backs.

* * *

Tears welled up in my eyes as I ran. How could I leave Tentomon behind to die like that? I had let Kristen's partner get killed! What would she say to me? More important, would she be able to say anything to me? I stopped for a moment.

"No... he has them all..." I was losing it. All my friends were probably either dead or next to it, and I had let it happen. Thoughts raced through my head as my imagination took over. I could see them being tortured. "God damnit, why!!? Why can't I do anything!? This thing is useless!" I pulled out my digivice and threw it at a tree. It bounced off it and landed near my feet. I looked down at it. The center that had used to be white was now a very dark grey. "What the hell?" I picked it up. I remembered what Ken's digivice had looked like on the show, just like mine. "It figures, now the thing thinks I'm evil." I clipped it to my belt loop and walked on in silence.

Primary Village; Tentomon had told me to go to Primary Village, that he would meet me there. Yeah right, like he could meet me there now. That was where dead digimon were reconfigured. I stopped again. Tentomon would be reloaded there; he had known Myotismon would kill him. All Digieggs hatched there, too, so maybe I could get the ones I had to hatch there and... get the Angels to help me. But where was Primary Village? I pulled out my digivice and went through the functions to the compass. It showed the direction, but nothing else. I kept going through the functions till I came to the radar. I saw dots. Red, pink, blue, yellow; it was the others, and they were moving. "Myotismon heard Tentomon, so maybe he's headed there too." I grinned as I talked to myself; there was still a chance, there was still hope.

* * *

The forest finally came to an end and I looked out upon the rolling hills. I had walked through the night, making coffee with the water and grains I had from Gennai. I could see Myotismon's convoy. They were moving about as fast as I was.

It was massive. There was an army of Ogremon as well as a cadre of wagons being pulled by a hideous looking black digimon. It had wings and chilling red eyes. I pulled out my digivice. Devidramon... Champion. I looked back up and saw that the one I had scanned was looking straight at me.

"Hey, what's up with him?" The Ogremon began to look at the sinister dragon digimon. "Hey you; move it! You're holding up the rest of the convoy!" The Devidramon just roared in my direction. I quickly moved further back into the forest; he must have been able to tell I was scanning him. "Damn beast!" The Ogremon sitting behind the dragon on the wagon cracked a whip and Devidramon roared. The convoy started moving again and things returned to normal.

"Jeez, I've gotta be more careful or I'm gonna get killed." I was thinking out loud. "How am I supposed to get to primary village in those fields; I'll be wide open!" I sat down a moment and ran my gloves through my hair. I could feel movement in my pack. I opened it up and looked inside; one digiegg was moving about. It was Patamon's. It wasn't hatching yet, but there was certainly movement inside. "I must be close to Primary Village." I pulled out my digivice and looked. It was still black and grey, but not nearly as dark as it had been earlier. The radar showed that the convoy had stopped. I walked out of the forest and looked. There was one, very large, grassy hill between me and those dots.

I ran up it most of the way and crawled a short way to the top, not wanting to be seen. I reached the top and looked over. "Holy God..."

Gone were the once mountainous stacks of inflatable building blocks and vibrant colors. Gone were the fields of digieggs waiting eagerly to hatch and be brought into the world. Gone were the gelatinous baby digimon who one couldn't help but think were cute. They were replaced by a corrupted field, covered in dead plants and fungus; blight. The eggs were muddy and all contained in bowls formed from dead and rotten trees forced into shapes of servitude. The stacks of building blocks were replaced by stone towers emitting dark green glows at the tops. Every once in a while a blast would shoot from them, spreading across the sky and keeping out any light or rain that would dare think to try and fall on the once beautiful valley of innocence. And in the center of it all was one short, dome-shapped building. Attached to it were steel pots for digieggs. Each one was just big enough for one digiegg, and from the looks of it most of them were full; all but two. "Those are... sick bastards!" The digieggs of the digimon of the chosen children were mounted about the bunker, as if trophies to the dark workings of Myotismon, who was nowhere to be seen. They had turned Primary Village from a place of innocence and birth into a fortress of darkness and death.

The convoy was in the valley, circled around the central bunker. I pulled out my digivice and looked; they were in the wagon closest to me. I say wagons, but they looked more like circus cages, without the colors of course. I snuck down the hill, moving from rock to rock, getting ever closer to the cage. When I could see inside I nearly heaved. They were all there, but beaten to a pulp. Scars and bruises covered them all; Myotismon must have used his Crimson Whip on each of them. I winced and remembered the still fresh scars across my back and shoulders; they began to burn again. I walked up to the cage and looked around. There were Ogremon everywhere, but were busy marching about in procedure. Myotismon had organized them to be an army. The Devidramon were all contained in large stables, roaring and screaming over the loud explosive sound the towers made when they emitted their pulses.

"Guys, can you hear me?" I looked inside and noticed that Agumon was missing. I looked through the cage and saw that there was a red egg on the bunker. They had destroyed him too. I looked for a door but couldn't find one; good thing I didn't need one. I focused energy into my gloves and grabbed onto the bars, hopping I could just pull them away like I had at the Gazimon village. The flames were light blue again. I pulled in all directions on various bars, but none would budge. "Damnit." I whispered to myself and kicked a rock. As I did, I noticed the flames around my hands had changed black again. "I wonder..." I grabbed hold of the iron bars again and pulled. They bent at my will, but wouldn't break. "Finally." I bent them to the sides and climbed in the cage. I dropped my pack, took off my gloves, and crouched down by Jennifer and felt around for a pulse. It took a minute, but I found a weak one. "Whew." I checked everybody and decided that they were all alive; barely, but alive none the less.

"Looking for something?" I turned around to find Myotismon standing outside the bent bars of the cage. "You didn't think I'd let you get to them that easily, did you?" I looked around for something to fight with.

"Ha! You have to be kidding me. You actually think you can fight me? I've killed far stronger than you punk." I felt rage building up inside me again. Without turning around and still staring at Myotismon, I reached back and grabbed hold of one of the bars and yanked; it broke off quickly. I held the bar like a sword and readied myself. "The darkness is greater in you than I thought. Is that why Memoriamon was following you around?"

"Shut up." Myotismon smirked and let out a short laugh.

"Why do you deny it? You are almost as evil as I am, even though you may not know it yet. Come now, stop resisting me and join me in bringing a new age of darkness to this land."

"Bite me." Myotismon stepped into the cage. Ogremon had crowded around it waiting to see me get killed.

"You can't beat the dark gods James. No matter how hard you try, they will win. I will not offer you this chance again. You can both work for me and attain power beyond your wildest dreams, or you can die fruitlessly at my hands." He stood with his arms crossed.

"You won't win Myotismon, and neither will Daemon. We have beaten you many times before, and we will win again." I thought about the hundreds, thousands, millions of digidestined back on earth. If we died, at least a few of them would step up.

"You mean those men and women who have grown up and forgotten their little digital world? They threw it aside to let it fall into hands such as my own. They could care less what happens to it, which is why we are going to rule earth and teach them to care. They are the same." He waved his hand at the others lying unconscious on the ground. "They only wish to save this world to save their own. That is why you hate them."

"I do not." I felt like a dam about to burst. My sight began to get hazy; darkness flew across my eyesight as if it were floating about in front of my face. The black flames about my gloves grew and crawled up the iron bar I wielded.

"Yes you do. You hate Chris because he is the leader instead of you. You hate Joey because you envy his innocence and carefree personality. You hate Kristen because she is smarter, yet younger than you. You hate Jennifer because she rips at your heart every day, killing you from the inside." I was shaking violently. Dark clouds of energy enveloped me and flew about my body. I screamed and took a swipe at Myotismon. The bar hit him and threw him out the cage, tearing bars off as he flew back and landed in the crowd of Ogremon.

"I'LL KILLYOU!!!" I jumped out and slashed about the Ogremon, watching in delight as they blew apart into data, powerless to stop my onslaught. Behind me, I could hear movement. It didn't matter anymore, they were as good as dead and I couldn't help them. Myotismon jumped up and glared at me.

"Can't you feel it: the pain, the fear, the sorrow, the hopelessness? It eats and kills you inside, taking control of you when you can't make things the way you want them." I dashed at Myotismon madly and swiped with the iron bar. He dodged easily.

"Crimson Whip!" The whip wrapped around the bar and I watched the dark energy raced up towards Myotismon. "What the...?" I pulled away and watched the whip break apart. I jabbed at Myotismon, but he stepped aside. No longer relying on his special attacks, he dashed up to me and punched me, knocking me to the ground. I jumped up and took another swipe at him. He dodged it and eyed the others in the cage, who were beginning to come to and wake up due to the noise of our fight. Myotismon ran up the hill I had come down.

"I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" I screamed and sprinted after him. He reached the top of the hill and waited, just as I was within swinging distance, he attacked.

"Grizzly Wing!" Bats flew out and circled me, biting me whenever they had a chance. I couldn't see past the cloud of bats and swung wildly until they were gone. I looked up, but Myotismon was no longer at the top of the hill. I ran up to the peak and looked about on the other side. He was nowhere to be found. I heard fresh screams and turned around. The dark cloud about me doubled in size.

"So you still think there is hope? Try your attack again and they all die! The punks, the digieggs, all of them!" He held Joey in his hand and threw him against the remaining bars of the cage.

"NO!!!" I began to run towards the cage, but Myotismon grabbed Joey's body again.

"Join me and I will let them go. The digidestined and all the eggs will be given safe passage to your world." I hesitated. What could I do? Finally, I dropped the iron bar and dropped to my knees. Jennifer was watching in horror.

"No James! Don't do it!" Tears poured out of my eyes as I looked down upon them from the hill. A cadre of Ogremon was walking up to seize me, now that the dark energy around me had dissipated. I whispered inaudibly out loud to Jennifer. She couldn't hear me, but understood.

"I'm sorry." The Ogremon grabbed me and dragged me down the hill.

"Get all the eggs and put them in the cage. Take them to the gate. They are no longer a concern to us." More Ogremon ran back and forth, placing the digieggs from the bunker and putting them in the packs in the cage. They all were shaking, seemingly about to hatch. As the Ogremon dragged me in front of Myotismon, I looked at Jennifer.

"Any last words?" Myotismon looked at me through squinted eyes.

"Why James?" Tears flowed freely down Jennifer's face.

"I didn't come here to save myself. I came here to save you, and I did." She sat on her knees and stared at me. Myotismon pulled back his fist to knock me out. Just enough time to say one last thing.

"Objective met; mission accomplished." I felt the pain across my face and everything went black.

I knew no more.


	12. Ch 10: The Ressurection Woman

**Chapter 10: The Resurrection Woman**

The cage marched on along the dirt path. Chris sat in a corner, not speaking to anybody. Kristen looked about, trying to figure out a plan to stop Myotismon. Joey lied unconscious from Myotismon's fresh beatings. Jennifer watched over him with tears in her eyes.

"Well we could... no. Oh! How about... no we'd still be killed."

"Shut up Kristen. Nobody feels like hearing your idiotic plans right now. We can't do anything except get tossed out the digital world and hope for the best." Chris was being an jerk to everybody when he wasn't silent.

"At least I'm trying to think of something instead of just sitting around doing nothing! Some leader you are!" Kristen snapped at Chris.

"Face it. Myotismon destroyed Agumon and Tentomon. What makes you think he won't hesitate to kill us?" Chris was standing up now, holding onto some of the cage bars. They could have escaped easily through the huge gap left behind from the fight, but they wouldn't get far. Everybody was in pain physically as well as mentally.

"Because he knew Agumon and Tentomon would be reloaded. Besides, he isn't here right now is he?"

"No, but a army of Ogremon sure are. And don't forget that thing up front." Chris pointed to the Devidramon pulling the cage.

"Hey you two, be quiet." Jennifer was sitting and leaning over Joey. His breathing was haphazard and segmented. She stroked his hair and whispered to him, as if she were a mother and he her child. "How much longer until we're at the gate?" She shouted to the nearest Ogremon.

"Soon enough! Now shut up and mind yourself. Lord Myotismon may have set you free, but it doesn't necessarily mean we have to!" The Ogremon growled at Jen and turned back to the direction he was marching.

"What's wrong Jennifer?" Kristen forgot about the argument and walked toward her. "Is he okay?"

"No, he isn't!" Jennifer screamed and shoved her face in her hands. "Why did it have to be him? He's only a little kid! He shouldn't have to face things like that!" She wept uncontrollably in anger.

"Calm down, calm down! He'll be okay! We're digidestined, remember?" Jennifer looked up. "All of our predecessors made it out okay, and we all will too."

"Yeah, you're right. You're always right." Jennifer wiped the tears from her face. "Look at me! I'm the oldest and bawling like a baby. I should be telling you this, not the other way around."

The cage marched on in silence...

* * *

A few hours had passed when they came out of the forest again and into a large clearing. In it, there was a massive stone castle, reaching to the skies. "Wake up! We're here. Get your things and get out. We're not keeping up with you longer than necessary." The Ogremon rattled the bars of the cage with his club and the caravan came to a halt.

"Chris, would you carry Joey for me?" Jennifer stood up and looked at Chris, still standing in the corner looking out on the landscape.

"Sure Jennifer. I'd help you with anything." Chris snapped from his lethargic state and jumped at the chance to help Jennifer. His response was overly done and sounded awkward, being so happy in such a gloomy situation.

"Thanks." Jennifer didn't really notice how Chris had said it. She was preoccupied with gathering the packs together. It was when she noticed that my pack was with them too. She opened it up and looked inside to find the two digieggs he had chosen to carry. "I wouldn't want to leave these behind." She picked up the second pack and walked up the dirt path with the others to the citadel. Chris carried his pack and Joey; Kristen carried her pack as well as the new eggs from Agumon's and Tentomon's data; Jennifer carried two packs. The Ogremon marched in a ring formation around them as they walked through the massive gates.

The castle was huge. The ceilings seemed to rise to heaven itself and the cavernous chambers echoed even the slightest sound. Digimon could be heard in the shadows murmuring pointlessly, as if they had lost their sanity. There were no windows; the rooms were lit by flaming torches that didn't burn away. As the digidestined quickly walked through to the stairway to the gate, they marveled at the dark castle.

"Where did they get the stone for all of this?" Chris whispered to himself as he looked up, nearly tripping on a loose stone in the floor.

"Quiet! Look forward and nowhere else!" The Ogremon turned his head around, looking Chris in the eyes. Everybody stopped looking and snapped their gazes forward. The group made their way down a large stairway that stretched on for what seemed an eternity. When they finally reached the bottom, everybody gasped. They had reached the gate. It towered over them menacingly as they remembered the fight that the original digidestined went through to get home. It was almost a shame to know that they were being forced through.

"Make sure you have all of your things. Anything left behind will be destroyed." One Ogremon spoke to the group as the rest went to the gate.

"Joey, hey man, wake up. You've gotta see this." Chris shook Joey slightly and waited. "Please man, you ain't going to get another chance." Chris shook him again and smiled when his eyes opened.

"Uhhh... whe m I?" Joey's speech was slurred and incomprehensible.

"Were at the gate man! Remember on the show? I know you do, that's all you would talk about back in the forest. You wanted to have a show of your own. Well were at the gate. Look!" Joey turned his head and saw the gate. His eyes grew wide for a moment, but snapped back shut. He began to shake violently. "Joey? Joey! Hey! He needs help now!"

"What do you expect us to do?" The Ogremon snarled at Chris, who was panicking as Joey went into a seizure in his arms. "Let him die for all we care."

"Open the gate!" Jennifer screamed at the Ogremon. "Open it now!"

"Gladly." The Ogremon yanked at the giant stone gate and it budged slightly. After a few more moments, it was open wide enough for everybody to get through.

"Come on! Maybe we can get help on the other side!" Kristen ran through the gate, followed by Chris still holding Joey. Jennifer ran up to the gate and turned around. She didn't want to be Myotismon's castle to be the last place Joey ever saw. She turned back around and ran though.

"Finally, they're gone." One Ogremon sighed after they closed the gate back. "Hey, where does the big man keep the booze?"

* * *

It was cold. Jennifer opened her eyes and jumped up. There was no time to figure out what was going on, they needed to get Joey to a hospital. She looked around. The packs were scattered on the ground along with everybody else. "Wake up!" Everybody jumped up and realized what was happening at Jen's command. They ran about and picked up their things, following Jennifer who had taken a lead ahead of the rest, looking for a friendly face. It was night and little could be seen. "Help! We need help now!!!" Jennifer looked around. She could see the oriental style hut behind them as her eyes got used to the dark. They were at the camp that the original digidestined had started from. "Please help!"

"What's all that noise?" A man stepped out of another building nearby and looked at them. He was standing only in a robe and looked rough. "Who's there?"

"Hello? Oh thank god! Hurry! We need to get to a hospital now!"

"What? What's going on?" The man ran up to Jennifer as the others caught up.

"He's hurt!" Fresh tears rose to Jennifer's eyes. Joey was still shaking, light from his digivice flickering on and off. "We need to get to a hospital now; all of us; especially him!"

"Oh god! Get him inside! I'll call the ambulance!" The man began to turn around.

"There is no time! Just tell me where the hospital is!" Jennifer dropped both packs she carried and ran up behind the man.

"It's in the city, about five miles north of here; what do you mean no time?"

"Are you sure it's north?"

"Positive. Injured kids get flown there all the time! Now get inside..." Jennifer cut him off.

"Screw the ambulance! Spirit Code Activate!" Light surrounded and flew about Jennifer furiously as her digivice showered everyone in energy. The light faded and Kazemon stood in her place. "Give me Joey!" Chris nodded; his mouth slightly agape as Kazemon took Joey and flew into the air. With a beat of her wings, she streaked across the sky. The man who had come to help stared in amazement.

"What is she!?" His voice rattled.

"What is she? She's a digidestined, a damn good one too." Chris smirked and gazed into the sky that Kazemon had been in just a moment before.

* * *

The hospital was centered on the edge of downtown. Kazemon landed in the parking lot and ran in the emergency room, unworried about her appearance. She burst in through the doors, inadvertently blowing gusts of wind into the waiting room.

"I need a doctor! NOW!!!" Joey shook more violently than ever in her arms and it took her greatest care not to drop him. People sitting about who had also brought loved ones for care stared at Kazemon, who stood in the center of the room holding the blonde haired child who shook like an earthquake dwelled within him.

"Doctor! Come here quick! He's having a seizure!" The nurse talking with the people waiting jogged over to Joey tried to hold him still.

"Jesus Christ, what happened!?" A doctor placed Joey down and wheeled him off, the nurse and a squad of other doctors, all dressed in white medical coats. Kazemon fell to her knees and sighed.

"I hope he'll be okay." She looked down a moment and sat in her thoughts before she realized that everybody was staring, whispering to each other about the oddly clad, human-like thing that sat before them. "Oh man, how do I explain this?"

"Oh dear god. I remember you." One woman stood up from her chair and walked shakily over to Kazemon, who was still on her knees.

"What?" Kazemon looked up at the woman.

"You're one of those digimon. After all these years, I can't believe I ever forgot about you things." It seemed that the memory works that the old digidestined and Gennai had used had faded over time. The woman looked over Kazemon for a few moments before speaking again. "You took my daughter away before, but you brought her back."

"What? I'm sorry ma'am, but I've never taken anybody anywhere."

"I don't care. Maybe you can bring her back again." Kazemon finally noticed the tears and running makeup on the lady's face. She collapsed onto Kazemon, who reacted just in time to catch her. "Please! You've got to!" She cried uncontrollably.

"How? Where is your daughter? Who is your daughter?" Kazemon pushed the woman away far enough to look back into her face.

"Her name is Sora Takenouchi. She is in room 211. Please, you helped her before, you have to help her again. You helped him!" She was talking about Joey.

"Show me where she is. I'll see what I can do." Murmuring erupted around the room as people spoke with one another, amazed at the events in the emergency room. Ms. Takenouchi ran up to the stairs and Kazemon followed, making sure her wings didn't knock into anybody. They rounded a corner and ran down a sterile white hallway that looked like all the others. The rooms zoomed by until they finally reached room 211. The lady walked in and up to the girl lying in the bed.

"Honey? A friend is here to see you. Somebody you haven't seen in a long time. You may not know her, but I'm sure she can help." Sora's mom spoke softly to her daughter, holding her hand. IV's were plugged into Sora's body in various spot and a tube supplying air was inserted into her mouth.

"What happened to her?" Kazemon stood, somewhat horrified at Sora's condition.

"The doctors say she tried to kill herself. They say she took a lot of pills from the medicine cabinet and... and..." Sora's mother broke down, unable to finish the sentence. Jennifer wanted to cry with her. The girl who had once been the wielder of love was now trying to end her life.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Just talk some sense into her! Before she ever left she was always so mad at me, and when she came back from the digital world. She was like a whole new person! And then she broke up with Matt and became worse than before, but I never thought she could get like this!"

"Wait? Who? Matt? You mean that blonde haired kid with the guitar?"

"Yes!" The mother jumped up, relieved that she was getting the message across.

"What happened between them?"

"They dated for a long time, I even thought they might get married, but they broke up for some reason. He left Japan on some tour with his band and left Sora behind." The mother sat down in one of the chairs in the room and began to calm down. "She started to do things to herself. I would find messages on her computer about how she wanted to just die. I didn't know what to do!"

"I'll stay here for the night then. Maybe I can help her in the morning."

"Why not now?" Sora's mom looked worried. She thought Kazemon was going to try and ditch them.

"Because I'm not in the best of shape myself right now and I'm tired. And besides, you haven't even seen me yet." Kazemon pulled out her digivice.

"What do you mean? What's that?" Kazemon relaxed and data blew off her like and into her digivice. Jennifer had devolved and sat down in a chair beside Ms. Takenouchi. "You're not a...?"

"No, but I can help her." Jennifer looked at Sora lying in the bed, breathing slowly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Jennifer showed her digivice to the mother. The Crest of Love glowed; pulsing light showed from the screen. "We have the same crest. We're practically the same person." Sora shifted in the hospital bed, fists closing tight.


	13. Ch 11: Love at the Next Level

**Chapter 11: Love at the Next Level**

"Hello? No, must be the wrong room." The nurse from the waiting room peaked her head in the door; she was looking for Kazemon, unaware that she was Jennifer.

"Wait, I'm the one you're looking for." Jennifer spoke up and ran her down as she began to walk back down the hall.

"What? I'm sorry young lady, but..." The nurse shook her head.

"I can't explain how right now, but I'm the one who brought in Joey. Is he okay?" A somewhat comical, somewhat serious look spread across the nurse's face.

"Well we have him stabilized, but I'm afraid it isn't good. Has he always had seizures? Are you his...?" The nurse began to ask, but stopped thinking that Jennifer was far too young.

"What!? No!! I'm just a really good friend. I don't think he's had seizures before."

"Okay, that's good." The nurse looked back at the clipboard she was carrying.

"How is that good?"

"The doctor assumed that this was his first seizure. I'm not sure why, but he had a gut feeling. Anyways, we think he'll be fine, but he is going to take some time to recover. How long was the seizure before you got here?" Jennifer thought to herself. It had started in the castle, during the passage between worlds, at the camp, during the flight, and for the entire time in the hospital.

"I don't know; maybe about ten minutes."

"Good lord! Poor child; you can come visit him in a few hours; he's sleeping right now."

"Thank you." Jennifer began to head back to Sora's room, but stopped. "How did you know that I was here?"

"The people in the waiting room mentioned room 211 and that, um, you and an older woman had gone there to see the older woman's daughter." Jennifer could tell that the nurse was still bothered by her entrance as Kazemon.

"Oh, thank you for coming." Jennifer walked back into the room. The nurse walked up to the nearby nurse's station.

"Could you go check that room? I want to know everything about the person in there." The nurse whispered to the nurse in charge of the hall.

"Sure thing." The head nurse reached under the counter and produced another clipboard. She then walked around and towards Sora's room. Meanwhile, Ms. Takenouchi and Jennifer were talking again.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Sora's mother had finally noticed Jennifer's looks and accent.

"No, I'm American." Jennifer looked down. For the first time since she had left, she thought of home. Ms. Takenouchi noticed Jennifer's sudden change of mood.

"Do you have any friends or family you can stay with here?" Jennifer looked up.

"No. I haven't thought of where to stay yet. We just got here." A puzzled look came across Ms. Takenouchi's face.

"We?"

"I came here with some friends."

"From that other world?"

"Yes ma'am." Jennifer felt uncomfortable being so polite. She didn't know the customs and was doing her best to make sure she didn't offend anybody. "There were five of us. Myself, Joey, another girl named Kristen, a boy named Chris, and..." Jennifer stopped. She had forgotten about me.

"And... who?"

"Another boy named James. He didn't come with us." Ms. Takenouchi looked away.

"Oh." Sora's mother hesitated a moment before she spoke again. "Was he killed?"

"I don't know." They didn't even notice the nurse who had come in. She was busily recording things on Sora's chart and shifting things about. She left the room when she was 'done'. A few moments passed before either Jennifer or Ms. Takenouchi said anything.

"You speak pretty good English." Jennifer searched for conversation to lighten the mood.

"Excuse me?" Ms. Takenouchi looked at Jennifer as if she was crazy. "I don't know how to speak English. Did you learn Japanese in school?" Jennifer stared at Ms. Takenouchi. She could swear that she was speaking English, word for word. She watched her lips move and they matched the words she spoke—English.

"That's very funny ma'am. Don't kid around like that." Ms. Takenouchi looked at Jennifer the same way she had looked at her. She heard and saw Japanese, no doubt about it.

"You're speaking Japanese...aren't you?" Jennifer began to say something when she noticed that her digivice was glowing ever so slightly until Ms. Takenouchi stopped talking, then it faded. She pulled it out and spoke.

"No, I'm not speaking Japanese," the digivice glowed again, "but I think this thing is."

* * *

"Can I help you?" The nurse looked up to see two kids run into the waiting room.

"Yeah! Did you see a girl come in here?" Chris and Kristen had gotten a ride to the hospital from the man back at the camp.

"Excuse me? Oh, you must mean..." The nurse thought to herself for a moment. "Yes, she's in room 211."

"Thanks." Chris absentmindedly said as he turned to run down the hall. He stopped for a moment. "Um... where exactly is that?"

"Down the hall, up one flight of stairs to your right, take another right when you're done, and it should be on the right."

"Right." Chris took off again.

"You may want to get those cuts looked at!" The nurse yelled down the hall after the two as they followed the nurse's directions. They went up the stairs and, sure enough, found Jennifer sitting in room 211.

"Jennifer, where's Joey!?" Kristen had beaten Chris to the room.

"I dunno, down the hall somewhere." Jennifer had her mind on me again. She stared into space.

"Are these the others you were talking about?" Ms. Takenouchi's voice broke Jennifer from her trance.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah!"

"What's she talking about? Who is this lady? Who's that in the bed?" Chris didn't have the same politeness that Jennifer had. Ms. Takenouchi gave a weak smile.

"This is Ms. Takenouchi and that is her daughter." Jennifer leaned on Ms. Takenouchi's shoulder and pointed to Sora.

"Okay, and that means what to me? Does 'she' have a name?" Chris was irritated. He didn't really care about the girl in the bed. He figured there were hundreds just like her in similar beds throughout the hospital.

"Her name is Sora Takenouchi." Sora's mother spoke before Jennifer could snap at Chris for being rude.

"Wait, you don't mean..." Chris quickly changed his attitude.

"Yeah Chris, the digidestined Sora; I promised I would help her."

"How? What happened?" Ms. Takenouchi looked away.

"I'll tell you later Chris." Jennifer attempted to save Ms. Takenouchi the trouble of repeating the story. "First we need to find a place to stay. This chair is nice but I'm not going to be able to sleep in one sitting next to her or Joey."

"Then you can come and stay with me." Everybody turned in shock at Ms. Takenouchi. They hadn't expected to be taken in by a stranger upon their arrival in Japan. "Just promise me you will be a little more polite... what was your name?" Ms. Takenouchi looked at Chris. He blushed out of humiliation and answered her politely, wanting to make up for his earlier transgression.

"It's Chris. I'll be polite, I promise." He felt like he was talking to his own mom.

"Okay. Let me go speak with the nurse. It will be nice to have company anyways. It will keep my mind busy." Ms. Takenouchi stood up uneasily and began to walk out of the room.

"Wait! How long has Sora been here?" Jennifer quickly asked as Sora's mother tried to quickly leave the room.

"A few days."

"Then why were you in the emergency waiting room?"

"I needed to get out of this room; I've been here with her the entire time. You understand, don't you? I just wanted to get away somewhere for a little while. It's just coincidence that you came in when you did. Now come on"

"Oh, okay."

* * *

"Make sure you take off your shoes." Everybody was reminded of staying with Gennai. Before they had left the hospital, Ms. Takenouchi and Jennifer had it arranged so that Joey was moved to the empty room beside Sora. When they were satisfied, they left in Ms. Takenouchi's car.

"Yes ma'am." The crew replied in unison and stepped inside laughing about how odd it had sounded. They left Joey's pack in his room so he would have something to mess with when he woke up. They took the rest with them.

"Make yourselves at home. I'll see about making something to eat for you all. I assume you're hungry?" An exclamation of acknowledgement ensued. They hadn't really eaten since the forest, but had been too preoccupied with one event after another to think of food. "I don't have much; I haven't been grocery shopping lately. I guess I'll just make some noodles." Chris' stomach lurched at the thought of more noodles.

"Thanks; I guess." Chris murmured under his breath and Kristen elbowed him in the side. He let out a short yelp and rubbed where she hit him. "Where are we going to sleep?"

"I think Sora keeps some extra blankets in her room. You can sleep on the couches in the den; that's what everybody does. Or at least what they used to do."

"What do you mean?" Jennifer felt a connection with Ms. Takenouchi. She was like a mother to her. Jennifer couldn't really explain it, but the promise to help Sora had seemed so predetermined, like she knew she was going to help her before she knew she needed help. Ms. Takenouchi stopped what she was doing for a moment.

"Sora used to have her friends over all the time. I remember Tai would always fall asleep on that couch right there. She and Matt first kissed right outside the door." She waved in the general direction of the door as tears began to come to her eyes. "I would always have to get on to TK and Kari about chasing each other around the table." Her voice began to waver. "Izzy would always ask if he could use our phone line for his computer. Joe would always bring over his books when she forgot them at school. Dav..." At this point she finally lost it; the last sentences being lost in a flood of tears. Jennifer ran over to her.

"Calm down. She'll be okay! Just calm down; I said I would help her and I am!"

"I just want her to be happy like she used to be!" Ms. Takenouchi wept and collapsed onto Jennifer. Jennifer nearly buckled under the sudden weight; she hadn't expected to have to catch the older lady.

"She will be. I swear by my digivice, she'll be happy again."

* * *

"What's your name?" Joey stood in the door way to room 211. He had woken up and was now running about, hyper just as before. He stood looking at the older girl leaning against the back of her hospital bed. She didn't answer.

"Are you okay?" Joey began to creep into the room. "Is something bothering you?" Sora looked away towards the window.

"It's okay. I won't tell anybody." Joey innocently jumped up and sat on the hospital bed. "Are you sad about something?" A tear came to Sora's eye as she turned and looked at Joey.

"TK?" Her voice was weak and she spoke in a whisper. At the first sight of the short child with rough blond hair, she was reminded of her old friend.

"What? No, my name's Joey. All my friends say I would look like TK if I wore green." Joey was referring to the cartoon.

"You know TK?" Sora voice strengthened a little, but was hoarse and off pitch.

"What? No, but Genai told me that I would get to meet him. Do you know him?" Sora's eyes widened at the mentioning of Genai's name. She couldn't understand why the name seemed so familiar to her.

"Yes, well, I used to." Joey tilted his head a little and swung his feet back and forth as they hung over the edge of the bed.

"You did? He sure used to be a crybaby. Not me though! I'm tough!" Sora laughed.

"How old are you?" Joey's carefree mood was contagious.

"Eight. How old are you? And what's your name? You still haven't told me!"

"I'm twenty years old. My name is Sora." Joey stopped swinging his legs.

"You are!? Cool! Look at what I have! I'm a digidestined like you!" Joey pulled out his D-X from his jeans pocket. He had found his clothes lying in a chair by his bed when he woke up. He didn't like running around half-naked with only the hospital robe on. As soon as he showed it to her, a blast of light shot out of it and glared in Sora's face, blinding her. As Sora's memory came back to her, the light faded.

"I remember." Sora stared forward.

"What?" Joey had a comical, inquisitive look.

"How did you get that?"

* * *

"BRRRRRRRRRRIING!" The phone rattled on the receiver. Ms. Takenouchi ran up and answered it.

"Yes? Really! Oh thank you! You too! Everybody come on! They're awake!"

Chris looked up from over the couch. He had taken a slouched position on the couch with his limbs hanging off of the sides while watching television. "What?"

"Joey and Sora are awake! We're going to the hospital!" Jennifer and Kristen ran down the short hall and into the living room, already ready to go. Chris hopped over the couch, nearly tipping it over. They loaded up into Ms. Takenouchi's car and rode to the hospital.

* * *

"Sora!? Sora!!!" Ms. Takenouchi steamrolled her way into Sora's room, knocking over a nurse as she did. Jennifer helped the nurse up while Chris and Kristen ran into Joey's room next door. "I was so worried about you! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." Sora looked down and away from her mother. "Who is that?" Sora noticed Jennifer standing in the doorway.

"That is a friend of yours." Ms. Takenouchi turned to look at Jennifer.

"Mom, you've lost it. I don't even know her. She isn't even my age." Jennifer produced her D-X and showed it to Sora. "Oh my god, another..."

"What's that?" Jennifer handed it to Sora.

"That kid next door has one of these. His name's Joey, I think." Joey walked in the room as she said this. There were a few tears in his eyes.

"Jennifer! I missed you, but couldn't you have come a little later?" Joey was hugging Jennifer around the waist.

"Why's that?" Jennifer held up her arms at Joey's sudden affection.

"Cause they just got done giving me an X-Ray and they gave me a shot before they did it." He let go his hold on Jennifer and rubbed his shoulder. Everybody laughed. "Come here, I wanna show you something!" Joey ran out of the room.

"I'll be back in a minute Sora." Ms. Takenouchi turned and nodded to Sora as everybody left the room.

"So let me guess, she wants you to talk to me." Jennifer turned to respond to Sora's cocky voice. Sora spoke again before Jennifer could say anything. "I don't care if you are a digidestined; you can't help me.

"And why's that?"

"You couldn't possibly understand what I'm going through. Hah, I got the Crest of Love, what a joke." Sora looked out the window.

"So did I." Jennifer breathed deeper than before. She had to make sure to keep her calm.

"Oh really? I assume you have parents at home that love you? I assume that you have a boyfriend that cares about you more than anything?" Sora assailed Jennifer, who finally lost her composure.

"Absolutely not! My parents abandoned me! A boyfriend that cares!? I don't even know what that is! People at school call me a whore because of how many boyfriends I've had! They've all been the same; just a bunch of jerks trying to get me in the bed!" Sora was a taken aback at this sudden outburst. Since Jennifer had walked in, she had been the calmest person, but now...

"Then why do you have the Crest of Love? I bet there's somebody you love." Jennifer thought about it. She thought about all the boyfriends she had ever had and decided they were all jerks. She thought about some of her friends' boyfriends, but they were the same. She thought about me and... "Well, maybe one person." She couldn't help but remember when I had approached her that night at Gennai's house.

"See, you at least have one guy you love! And I bet he loves you too! Me? I don't have anybody. I used to love somebody, but he never really meant it. He was just like all the guys you talk about." Sora looked out the window.

"Then why did you get the Crest of Love?" Jennifer had become calm again.

"It was a mistake. I was never supposed to be there." Sora looked down again.

"Wow, you have no idea how wrong you are." Jennifer laughed under her breath and shook her head.

"Excuse me?"

"Everybody who comes to the digital world comes for a reason. Maybe because they are chosen, maybe because of fate. All I know is even those who shouldn't be there are there for a purpose. You got a crest when you went and the rest of them wouldn't have made it if you hadn't come." Jennifer squeezed tightly on her digivice. "I'm sure that whoever it was is sorry for what they did to you to make you like this and that they love you. And I know that you love him too." Tears crawled down Sora's face.

"Then why did Matt leave me? Why did dad leave me? If they had loved me they would have stayed!!!" Sora screamed and ran out of the room. It was a good thing that a nurse had decided that Sora didn't need her IV's a few hours before, or they would have been caught up in her quick exit. Sora dashed down the hall and out the hospital into the oddly empty street. "Why did you take them from me!!? Why god!? Just stop torturing me and end it!!!" Sora collapsed to her knees and cried into her hands. Jennifer ran out in pursuit.

"You mean they died?" Jennifer was beginning to panic. Gennai hadn't told her any of the digidestined had died.

"Matt left me for his stupid band and dad... dad..." She exploded into another wave of tears.

"That doesn't mean they still don't love you." Jennifer kneeled down beside Sora.

"What do you mean?" Sora looked up for a moment, but turned away to wipe away her tears, not wanting to look childish.

"Did either of them ever tell you they didn't love you? Did you ever stop loving them?" Clouds began to roll in the sky. Sora waited a moment before she answered.

"No."

"Then why would you think that they don't still love you?" Silence followed for a moment. Jennifer looked down at her digivice. It was glowing brilliantly. "See, I know you still love them and that they love you. Why else would this thing be glowing like a flashlight?" Sora looked down and saw the programmed crest in the D-X and gave a weak laugh. "Come on, let's get inside. It looks like it is about to rain."

"No, it isn't." Sora stood up and her eyes grew wide.

"What? What's wrong?" Jennifer stood up and took a step back.

"They're coming." Sora looked up. Jennifer looked up to see what she was talking about and nearly screamed.

A massive hole had ripped open in the sky. From it, a huge, black digimon came down from it, laughing hysterically as he flew down at Jennifer and Sora. Jennifer scanned him quickly before she dived to the ground. "Devimon!?"

"What are digimon doing here!?" Sora looked up in fear, but soon began to calm down, balling up her fists as if she were going to fight Devimon herself.

"They must be coming through the gate! Spirit Code Activate!" Light ripped around Jennifer as she digivolved. "Digivolve to... Kazemon!" Sora watched in awe as Kazemon flew into the air. "Hurricane Wind!" She gusted upon Devimon, but it didn't do anything to him. He laughed again and turned around.

"Touch of Evil!" The attack slammed into Kazemon, driving her into the road below.

"Jennifer!" Sora ran up to Kazemon after the dust settled. Devimon floated above them. "Are you okay!?"

"Ohhhh. That jerk, I'll..." Jennifer's digivice exploded into light before she could finish though. Eventually, it focused into a single beam that materialized in front of Sora. A few moments later, a digivice floated in front of her.

"My digivice. I lost it so long ago..." Sora quickly grabbed her digivice and held it tightly, closing her eyes for a moment. "... I can't believe I have it again, after so long."

"Tempest Twist!" Kazemon flew forward towards the devil, landing on her hands to spin kick him. Devimon caught her leg, letting out a chuckle. "What the...!?"

"Urrrrgaahhh!" Devimon slung Kazemon into the air by the leg, sending her into an out of control spin. "Touch of Evil!" The attacked crashed against Kazemon and she rolled over from it, beginning to break up slightly.

"You see this! We beat you before and we'll beat you again! I know we will!" Devimon turned to Sora, her eyes snapped to a fiendish gaze on Devimon. Sora's digivice glowed with Jennifer's as light began to surround her again. "You can't stop us! You can never stop us!" The light around Jennifer solidified into data streams around her, raging about, sending powerful gusts of wind that send up clouds of dust and debris from the street.

"Kazemon digivolve to... Arashimon!" As the light faded a new digimon floated over the small crater where Kazemon had hit just a moment before. She looked a lot like Kazemon, but now wore a heavy breastplate. Her other armor was also extended, covering most of her previously exposed body. Her hair had more than doubled in length and had turned white. Two sashes, one purple, one white, now wrapped around her, fluttering slightly in the wind, while her wings now glittered brilliantly as if they were jeweled. "Jet Stream!" With a beat of her wings, Arashimon sent a blast of wind at Devimon, sending him reeling back.

"I don't care if you are an Ultimate or not! Your data is mine! Touch of Evil!" Devimon's arm extended out rapidly, but Arashimon floated to the side slightly and dogged it completely. "Grrr... AHHH!" Devimon went berserk, attacking wildly as he tried to hit Arashimon. "Stop moving!"

"Ha! Are you kidding me!? This feels great!" Arashimon floated leisurely back and forth as Devimon attacked. Meanwhile, Chris, Kristen, Joey, and Ms. Takenouchi ran from the hospital.

"What happened? Who are they!? Is that Kazemon?" Kristen looked up as Arashimon dodged another attack.

"I got my digivice back and she digivolved to ultimate!" Sora yelled at them as they came close. "Devimon doesn't stand a chance!"

"Wow, this is cool." Joey stared into the sky along with the rest of them, except for Ms. Takenouchi. She looked at her daughter with a few tears in her eyes. She knew Jennifer had kept her promise. It would take time for things to return to normal, but her daughter would be okay. Devimon finally tried to tackle Arashimon, but missed and flew into a building. The people inside ran screaming to the other side of the building.

"That's enough! It's time to take you out before anybody is hurt!" The armor around her wrists extended, creating what looked like half-cuffs around Arashimon's hands. The extended out past her closed fists and locked as she slammed them together. Wind began to blow violently as the clouds above and around the portal Devimon had come through began to swirl. Wind poured into Arashimon's hands, which now looked like a gun barrel. Finally, an orb of wind and energy formed at the end of the barrel, which was at least a half-foot in diameter. "Fajita Cannon!" The orb blasted out and ripped into Devimon, gusting tornado winds against the evil digimon and the building. Arashimon was careful not to blow clear through him, as it would destroy the building Devimon was shoved against. Finally, the attack stopped and Devimon fell to the ground, breaking apart the entire way. He was gone before he hit the ground. Energy whipped around Arashimon as she landed and devolved. Jennifer stood for a moment and fell down.

"Jennifer!" Chris ran up to her as she fell. "Are you okay!?"

"Oh yeah, I'm just tired. Being a digimon can really take it out of you!"

"That was awesome! You were even cooler than Angemon!" Joey jumped about and began to describe how Angemon had beaten Devimon on the show.

"I don't know about that Joey. Angemon was pretty cool when he beat him." Sora smirked and looked at Jennifer. Jennifer just smiled.

"Still think your crest was a mistake?" Jennifer weakly said as Chris helped her up.

"Not anymore. All I need now is Biyomon and I'm back in business!"

"Then come on, let's go get her." Jennifer pushed Chris away as she regained her strength.

"What do you mean? She's here!?" Sora began to get excited about seeing her old friend.

"Her digiegg is in my pack in your room at home. You think you're ready to go? You aren't going to hurt yourself or anything are you?" Jennifer was half serious, half joking.

"Nah, I guess not." Sora looked away.

"Alright. Let's go in and see what we can do about getting you checked out of this place." They walked out of the street as sirens began to come hurtling down the road.


	14. Interlude: Downpour

**Interlude: Downpour**

_(One Year before Chris, Joey, Kristen, Jennifer, and James became Digidestined...)_

Sora sat on the couch bored, watching the television. The city was under a severe storm alert and her mother had decided to close the flower shop for the day—where Sora worked usually. Matt had been gone a month by now on tour, along with Tai and Yolei. Matt hadn't called recently and her thoughts drifted to her boyfriend as she stared at the drops of water burst against the window, coming down in sheets.

"_I wish I hadn't lost Mimi's e-mail..."_ Sora thought to herself about how her computer had crashed. Izzy had fixed it, but had replaced the hard drive, clearing out her Address Book in the process. Mimi's e-mail was long and complicated, so she couldn't remember how it was exactly. She knew everybody else was busy that day, so all she could do in the rain was sit and watch the TV.

After a half-hour of this the phone rang, startling her. She jumped at the sound and stared at the phone in shock for a moment before she realized it was the phone. She exhaled and jogged over too it, picking up off the receiver on the wall.

"Hi honey, I'm almost done down here making sure everything's secure. Are you alright?"

"Yes mommy, I'm perfectly fine." Sora said mockingly as she always did when Ms. Takenouchi treated her like a little kid.

"Okay... well I should be home in an hour or so."

"Right, just drive slow. It's really coming down here."

"Alright, I will. Bye."

"Bye." The phone clicked on the other end and Sora put it back on the receiver. She had barely turned around when the phone rang again. "Hello?"

"Hi Sora..." Matt's voice gradually emerged, lagging from the distance between the two. He spoke tiredly, as if he was anxious to get to something else.

"Matt!" Sora's face lit up at the sound of her boyfriend's voice. "I haven't heard from you in so long. How's everything going?"

"Well Sammy broke his leg so we're..."

"Are you coming home early?" Sora felt like doing a back-flip as she cut Matt off. She was tired of the same old routine she had been getting recently.

"No, we're just postponing everything. The tour's too important to just cancel Sora." Matt's voice sounded embittered. "Listen... I think we ought to see other people." Sora's jovial mood instantly pulled straight up and did the back-flip she had been planning, diving into a tailspin. Smoke plumed from the motors as the plane that was her heart hurtled towards the ground.

"What?"

"It's just things have really changed and I know that we aren't going to keep up with each other so far apart. We're just going to grow apart anyway so..." Sora slammed the phone on the receiver, her eyes burning.

"No... I won't cry over a guy. I won't do it..." Sora's mix of rage and misery battled against each other for control. The phone rang again while Sora's hand was still clenched tightly around it on the receiver. She contemplated not answering for a moment before finally picking it up. She pulled her composure back together.

"Hello?" Sora spoke into the receiver in the most sing-song forcibly happy fashion she could stand.

"Ms. Takenouchi?"

"This is her daughter, Sora."

"Yes, this is Odaiba Central Hospital. I'm afraid you need to contact your mother and get down here as soon as possible. There's been an accident..."

An hour later Sora and her mother learned that Mr. Takenouchi had been killed in an accident as he drove home from work—his office had closed early due to the weather. A large truck had run a red light, slamming right into the driver's side of his car.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, another person was receiving a shower of grief at his funeral.

"We are gathered here today in memory of Justin Webster Walls, beloved child and brother." The solemn proceedings took place under the cover of a makeshift carport set up over the open grave, awaiting the open casket. Rows of people crying and mourning were lined up, all sitting in hard, cheap, brown, metal, fold-out chairs. The cold air bit at all, but few noticed. I sat in the front row with my head tilted down. My mother and father sat in the chairs beside me, mourning the loss of their second child. However, I didn't cry. I had been to many funerals and had always at least shed some tears, but now there were none.

"He was a joyous child that brought smiles to all who knew him..." The preacher went on speaking about the youth he had never known as if he was his own son. I didn't hear most of it; the sounds were drowned out by the heat of my blood amplifying the blaring of my own thoughts.

"_It was my fault. I killed him. My fault, my fault, my fault, my fault..."_ I clenched my fists as the words repeated themselves through my head, over and over and over, without stall. Finally, a single burning tear of fire trickled down my face—not of sorrow, but of pure, sheer hatred of myself.

"Let us pray together..."


	15. Ch 12: Prince of the Undead

**Chapter 12: Prince of the Undead**

I woke up, but didn't open my eyes. I was lying on something soft and leathery and could feel it bumping up and down. I was lying down on my side, my arms tied behind my back, my shades pulled over my eyes. My head pounded from my earlier flood of rage and from Myotismon KO'ing me.

"Where am I?" I opened my eyes and sat up. I was in a carriage, with Myotismon sitting across from me.

"This is my personal carriage. Feel proud that you are riding in it." I spat on Myotismon. "You'll regret that later."

"What do you want with me?" I had calmed down, but was still in a very bad mood. I would have fought, but exhaustion and pain pulled at me.

"I want you to be my right hand." I laughed sarcastically, but Myotismon kept the same look on his face. "I am serious. Back there you were able to use the darkness in you and actually almost hurt me. That is very impressive for somebody who doesn't know what they are doing."

"Whatever." I looked away. I was in no condition to fight. Maybe if I could get by long enough, I would be able to escape...

"Don't think of escaping." I whipped back and stared at Myotismon. It was like he could see into my thoughts. "If you ever try to escape, I'll kill you."

"No you wouldn't. You want me to be your right hand, remember? Or are all evil digimon idiots?" It was dark outside and my shades made it nearly impossible to see. I rocked my head quickly and let them fall to the floor of the carriage. Myotismon's eyes narrowed. "See, you won't even do anything now! Some evil king you are." His eyes narrowed slightly more.

"Crimson Whip!" The whip shot from his hand and wrapped about my neck. "Really? Are you that ignorant?"

"I... can't... breathe..." I struggled to get air as the whip coiled tighter.

"Remember. I am the king here. You answer to me and only me. You may resent it now, but one way or another, the darkness within you will overwhelm you and you will be mine... forever." I began to lose consciousness from lack of air. The whip finally loosened and retreated to Myotismon's hand. I gasped for air and felt the warm, summer air flow into my lungs. I fell over and breathed heavily. "Pathetic." I felt the whip come down on me and anger began to build.

"Stop, please."

"No. You need to know your pain better." The whip came down again and again, every time though seemed to be a softer blow, but not because of Myotismon. I felt rage build up within me and in a few moments felt the dark cloud of energy around me. The whip stopped. "There. Isn't that wonderful? I bet you could barely feel my whip. Let the darkness empower you. Let it wipe away your senses." I involuntarily did as he said and relaxed. I could feel the dark energy pierce into me and I screamed. The ropes around my hands broke as I held my chest. It felt like it was about to explode.

"I can't take it!"

"Of course you can! You are pure evil! This is what you have delayed for too long! This is your destiny! To command my armies and rule this world with power you have never even imagined!" I was dizzy, but could still feel the carriage stop.

"Lord Myotismon!" An Ogremon ran up and opened the carriage door. "What's going on in here!? It's driving the Devidramon berserk!" The Devidramon pulling the carriage had begun to veer off course and the Ogremon were doing all they could to subdue the beast. "What's with him?"

"Show respect. He's your superior now." The pain stopped and I opened my eyes. I felt empty, like every emotion had been sapped from me. I got up off the floor of the carriage and sat back down.

"What is this?"

"This is power James; pure, limitless, power." Myotismon laughed and I breathed deep. I could feel it flowing throughout me. My blood burned and boiled in my veins; a scorching warmth emanating from deep within.

"I... I think I like it..." I smiled.

* * *

"Yes Lord Myotismon?" An unusually large Bakemon floated through the wall of Myotismon's throne room and lowered himself to kneel as best he could.

"Is everything prepared?"

"Yes my lord. The arena is ready."

"Good. Then let's begin." Myotismon snapped his fingers and the Bakemon flew out of the doors of the throne room. Myotismon walked out after him and looked out on the main hall of the castle from the balcony leading to the throne room. "Do you know what you must do?"

"Yes my lord." I stood in the center of the main hall. A cold gust of wind blew through from nowhere, causing the candles to flicker and go out. A few moments later a horde of Bakemon swarmed through the walls and circled me. I simply stood where I was.

"You don't stand a chance against us kid." Three Bakemon stopped circling me and floated in a triangle around me.

"Why don't you run home?" One behind me taunted me.

"I guess he wants to die." The next took his turn.

"Try me." I stood in the center of the hall still, unmoved by the sudden threat.

"Your wish! Dark Claw!" The three Bakemon attacked at the same time and their ghostly claws flew at me. I jumped up and they hit each other where I had been just a moment before.

"Black Storm!" I aimed my gloves down as I jumped into the air and watched as the purplish-red bolts of evil energy erupted from them. They homed in on the Bakemon, blowing them into data with ease. I landed and looked up. The Bakemon had begun to circle around me faster. They must have all wanted to be reconfigured. "Black Storm!" I aimed up this time and watched the bolts bounce from Bakemon to Bakemon, obliterating each one as it hit and moved on. After a few moments my attack ended and only a couple of Bakemon remained.

"Impossible! How could a punk like you have such power?" The Bakemon shook in the air and began to panic. I shot the one who spoke a glare. He began to blubber and whine. "Please don't hurt me!" I looked at Myotismon and he simply nodded. I aimed my hand.

"Zero Fist." I threw my fist in the Bakemon's direction, the energy's around it streaming to him. He broke into data, which climbed back down the stream of dark power. I absorbed it greedily and looked at the other Bakemon that remained. I turned and glanced back at Myotismon. "This is too easy. I thought you were supposed to be training me."

"I am."

"Dark Claw!" The Bakemon hit me, knocking me to the floor. I could feel him fly into me, hitting me on the inside. Over and over his claws tore at my body from both the inside and out, waves of pain shattering my previous chilled attitude. The burning sensation flowed back through my body.

"That's enough!" I yelled as my exclamation echoed throughout the chamber. "Devibomb!" I could feel dark energies quickly rush to my chest and explode. A blast erupted around me, tearing up the chamber and eroding the pillars. It was still a new attack to me and I had yet to perfect it. I felt the Bakemon shatter within me. I simply focused and absorbed his data.

"More... I want more..." I laughed hysterically. I loved what I had become. I loved the power. I loved being unbeatable.

* * *

"What!? Impossible!"

"I would not lie my lord! The chosen have begun to summon the former digidestined. Devimon was destroyed when the power one was transferred to one of the new ones!"

"Then we must go sooner than I had planned. Get the men ready and summon James to my chamber."

"Yes my lord." The Ogremon ran off and out the chamber door. Myotismon mumbled to himself.

"How could they have reached Ultimate already? I thought those other brats had been taken care of. Damn Memoriamon, they're all worthless." At this I walked into the chamber. Myotismon had since issued me new clothes, deciding that my blue-jean shorts and white t-shirt were inappropriate for one of my stature. I now wore black jeans, along with a black, long-sleeve shirt that reached under my gloves some. A dark, navy-blue cape followed me as I walked, reaching down to my ankles. I had kept my shades, but wore them all the time now. I could see clearly in the dark now, a side effect of my new powers.

"You called for me?" I kneeled to Myotismon.

"I am afraid I must cut your training short. New events have arisen and we must go to Earth sooner than we planned." Myotismon remained sitting on his throne.

"It is no matter. I was near completion of my training anyway, was I not?" I stood up. I couldn't understand Myotismon's somewhat worried tone of voice.

"Yes, you are right." Myotismon thought to himself, reassuring himself of his next decision. "I want you to lead the first part of my army into your world."

"Thank you. I will not let you down. All who oppose me shall fall." Myotismon smiled sinisterly.

"Go and prepare the troops. We leave at midnight."

"So be it."

* * *

The Ogremon growled amongst themselves as they walked into formation. I stood in front of the gate watching as more Ogremon tugged the gate open. There had to have been a couple hundred Ogremon, and I was their leader; their commander. I smiled and closed my eyes and thought of my power. Everyday I could feel it more. It was growing. My digivice had long since turned completely black, the Crest of Hope no longer showing behind the screen.

"The gate is opened and the troops are ready sir." A particularly ugly Ogremon spoke to me, snapping me from my haze. He was covered in scars from previous battles. I wondered if I had given him any.

"Excellent. Everything goes as planned, understand? I go first and the rest of you follow; one squadron at a time." I spoke in a low voice and turned around to look at the army again before the Ogremon could respond.

"Yes sir." I watched him call out orders to the Ogremon and they snapped to attention, waiting for me to walk through the gate. I smirked and turned around. I was going to Earth, and it would be mine. I had power I had never dreamed of. Myotismon was right; it was my destiny to rule his kingdom of darkness. I took a deep breath and walked through the gate. As light engulfed me from the portal, I could feel myself falling, but stood upright with my eyes closed the entire time. When it finally ended, I opened them again and looked about. We had emerged in the camp that the original digidestined had set out from.

We had made it to Earth. I thought to myself for a moment.

"Everything I see shall be mine." I whispered to myself as I walked forward a bit. The squadrons began to materialize behind me.


	16. Ch 13: My Band

**Chapter 13: My Band**

"I'm sorry, but I can't release either of them! I'd be fired!" The young nurse was panicking slightly as Chris pounded his fist on the counter at the Nurse's station.

"Why not!? They're perfectly fine!" Chris pounded the counter again, causing Kristen and Joey to come out of Joey's room; Sora, Jennifer, and Ms. Takenouchi were busily packing Sora's things in the other room. The nurse flinched as Chris pounded; she was new and hadn't experienced anybody like Chris yet. The head nurse ran down the hall to her rescue. She had heard the argument from another patient's room.

"Because the law clearly states that anybody brought in for treatment of self-inflected wounds or illnesses has to be kept here unless cleared by a psychologist! As for him," she pointed at Joey who was standing in the doorway to his room, "we reserve the right to hold anybody who shows abnormal progress in healing."

"What?" Chris took a step back from the head nurse, who was standing directly in front of him. "What's that mean?"

"Unless you are directly related to him, I have no obligation to tell you anything." The nurse spoke in a cold voice that made Chris take another step back.

"You're keeping them here against their will!? You can't do that!" Kristen ran out of Joey's room to back up Chris. Other visitors began to lean out of rooms to see what was causing the ruckus.

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN NOT DO!" The nurse screamed at Kristen. A doctor came running down the hall from the room the nurse had been in a few moments before.

"Calm down! I'll take care of them!" The doctor was far taller than anybody else, causing his blue hair to stand out in sharp contrast to the sterile white hospital. He wore glasses and had an air of stress about him, but covered it very well. "Just go sit down and take a breather." The nurse walked away, mumbling under her breath.

"You're not taking care of us!" Chris yelled at the doctor with his anger renewed since the nurse was gone. "We're leaving!" Chris turned to help Joey finish packing his few things.

"Wait!" The doctor ran after Chris and caught his arm. "Let me explain our situation; please?" Chris calmed down and turned around.

"Fine." The doctor pulled out a stapled stack of papers from under his coat.

"Let's step in here for a moment." The doctor stepped into Joey's room, not noticing Sora, Ms. Takenouchi, or Jennifer, who were just coming out of the other room. Chris, Kristen, and Joey followed the doctor in and watched him lock the door behind them.

"So what's wrong with Joey?" Kristen asked, slightly worried.

"I work in another wing of the hospital that specializes in experimental medicine and research. I'm still in college, but I'm good at what I do." The doctor chuckled a little to himself, but stopped when none of the others laughed with him. He cleared his throat and began again. "Anyways, I received Joey's tests the other day and noticed an anomaly."

"A what?" Chris asked, losing track of the conversation amongst the technical terms.

"Something out of the ordinary." Kristen leaned over and whispered in Chris' ear, never breaking eye contact with the doctor. "Go on." She spoke back to the doctor.

"Well, early tests showed that something had recently caused extensive brain damage. He should have died."

"So, what's that got to do anything? He seems fine now." Chris snapped at the doctor for suggesting that Joey shouldn't exist.

"The problem is that the tests I received just yesterday showed far less damage to either his brain or skull. They are healing." Kristen's face quickly changed from its state of worry to an obvious confusion. Chris maintained his frustrated stance.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Chris leaned a little on Joey's shoulders, who was standing right in front of him.

"I thought brain and nerve cells didn't heal." Kristen spoke out loud to herself for a moment before her eyes widened. "Wait a minute! You don't mean...?"

"That's exactly what I mean. He healed from injuries that medicine can't fix." The doctor crossed his arms and sat down. "Do you have any idea how this could have happened?" Kristen looked at Chris and they both shook their heads. A smile crawled on Joey's face.

"Maybe it was my digivice again!" Joey yelled out and reached into his pocket. "It can change me into Kumamon, maybe it can change me in other ways too!" Both Chris and Kristen covered Joey's mouth before he could say more. The doctor looked up quickly.

"Digivice?" Joey broke free of the others and handed the digivice to the Doctor. "Where have I seen this before?" The doctor turned it over and looked at the back. A moment later he flipped it back over. At this, it erupted in the Doctor's face, just as it had with Sora. "What the!?? What's going on!?" The light cleared and the doctor lowered his arm, which he had thrown up to cover his eyes. A digivice had materialized and landed in his lap. "Oh my god. If this is a digivice then you three are..." The doctor jumped up and tossed Joey his digivice back. "What's happened!? How can there only be three of you!?"

"What do you mean? Who are you?" The three took a step back away from the sudden panic of the doctor.

"My name is Joe Kido. I am one of the original digidestined. Now what is wrong with the digital world? Are you the only ones?" Everybody jumped at hearing Joe's name. Without knowing it, they had stumbled across yet another digidestined.

"It's a long story. We should get out of here before we talk." Kristen spoke slowly, trying to calm herself from the sudden excitement. "But no, we aren't the only ones. There are..." Kristen stopped herself. "There is another one of us. She's next door with Sora."

"Sora's here!? Why didn't anybody tell me!? I'm always last to know these things!" Joe opened the door and barged into the neighboring room, finding Sora, Jennifer, and Ms. Takenouchi sitting on the bed. Joe's glance landed right on Sora, and vice-versa.

"Joe!?"

"Sora!? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing!"

"I'm a doctor, remember? I mean we haven't seen each other in a long time but I know you haven't forgotten that much." Joe was in a hurried blur, waving his hands about as he spoke.

"You're Joe? Great! That's another one found and accounted for!" Jennifer jumped up in celebration.

"Who are you?" Joe turned to Jennifer.

"She's the other person we were telling you about." Chris stood outside the room, watching his words as not to attract any more attention to the episode taking place. "Now if you don't mind, let's get out of here. Everybody is starring at us."

"What? Oh, right. But first things first." Joe turned around and looked at the nurse's station across from the hall. "Kari!" The others were surprised again at this, as the shy young nurse Chris had yelled at stood up and looked at Joe.

"What Joe?" As the other's paid closer attention they realized that it was Kari, in the flesh. She wore a nurse's uniform that ended in a skirt and held a clipboard close to her chest, much like all the others. She was still a nervous wreck from Chris.

"Do you remember where the release forms are?"

"Yes."

"Get me two then come here. I have some people for you to meet." Kari shuffled through some drawers before finding the forms and walked out from behind the counter. The head nurse watched in shock as Joe ordered the release of the two she had fought tooth and nail to keep.

"What is it Joe? Who are they?" Kari innocently looked at the others.

"Wait a minute, if you're Kari, wouldn't you be too young to be a nurse? You should just be in high school." Kristen made a good point that the others agreed with.

"I'm just an intern for today and... wait. How did you know my age?" Kari began to freak out over the situation.

"Show her." Joe looked at Chris and he pulled out his red and white digivice. It shined in her face for a moment before Chris put it away again. Just like with the others, Kari's digivice materialized, but it was a D-3, as it had been before.

"Wait. What happened? I... I..."

"You remember, don't you? I guess we were a little too good about the memory thing." Joe smiled as he whispered to a dumbfounded Kari.

"This is weird."

"Let's go. We can talk about this elsewhere. Can we use your house Ms. Takenouchi?" Joe looked quickly at Sora's mother.

"Of course. It's so good to have things like this happening again." The crew quickly filled out the forms and left the hospital, luggage in tow.

* * *

"Okay, everybody calm and ready?" Everybody was strewn about the living room of Sora's home. Chris naturally led the conversation, being Goggles # 4. The three elder Digidestined nodded slowly. "We're the new digidestined. My name is Chris. She's Kristen, that's Joey, and her name is Jennifer; she's the oldest."

"Don't forget James!" Joey blurted out before anybody could stop him. Jennifer looked down.

"Who's James?" Joe turned to Joey, and then Kristen. "Why didn't you tell me there was another?" Joe began to talk quickly again, his eyes darting back and forth between Chris, Jennifer, and Kristen..

"Calm down Joe." Sora put her hand on Joe's shoulder and he took a deep breath. "Jeez, you sure haven't changed much." Jennifer looked back up and began to speak.

"James was a kid who was brought with me by accident. Gennai had a digivice made for him and he was adopted as a digidestined. However..." Jennifer's voice began to shake a little. She swallowed and a somewhat angry look of frustration spread across her face. "...he gave himself up in the digital world to save the rest of us from Myotismon. We don't know if he is alive or not." Joe, Sora, and Kari all jumped at the mentioning of Myotismon's name.

"So that's the problem? Myotismon is back?" Kari finally joined in. "If that's it then we can just get you guys powered up and you can beat him easily." She looked about for a moment and became alerted. "Where are your partners?" Kristen ran into a room in the house and came back with Agumon's and Tentomon's digieggs. Kari gasped.

"They were destroyed? But there are only two there! Where are the others?" Kari began to look at the other three. Sora answered for them.

"I think two of them digivolve themselves. I know Jennifer does, but..."

"I can too! I can turn into Kumamon. He's cool." Joey jumped off the couch and eagerly pulled out his digivice. "Here, let me show you! Spirit Code activate!" Light quickly ripped around Joey, blowing things over in the house and blinding the others. Kumamon stood where Joey had just seconds before. Joe and Kari looked amazed, while Sora just smiled.

"How did you do that? You aren't like Arukenimon are you?" Kari was fidgeted in her seat between Sora and Joe. Sora laughed.

"This is going to take a while to explain." Chris looked at Kristen. "Let's start from the beginning; how we all got to the Digital World."

* * *

They finished around eight that evening. The three older digidestined sat in awe at what they had been through and speculated about why Myotismon hadn't simply killed everybody when he had the chance. It was beyond everyone and they moved on to other matters.

"First of all, we need to find the rest of you original guys. Do you know where everybody is?" Chris put out orders like a military officer.

"Matt's band has been on tour, but they're due back here tomorrow. Tai replaced the drummer after he finished high school." Sora looked away at the mentioning of Matt's name. Jennifer walked over to her and led her away from the conversation. "Mimi is still in America so she'll be hard to get in touch with. Izzy lives on campus down at the university. TK should be at home right now. Davis should be too. I think Yolei is studying abroad and working sound for Matt's band. Cody is probably at home, but it's been a while since I've seen him. Anybody forgotten?" Kari turned to Joe.

"Ken, don't forget him. He should be over at Davis' house right now. I heard from TK that he tutors Davis in math." Everybody laughed at this, but Joe continued. "That's all of us, but what about those other kids? You know: the ones with the spirits?"

"Well most of the spirits were destroyed and we have copied code from the remaining ones, so I don't think they would be much help. We should probably leave them be." Kristen posted her theory and the rest agreed. "Then it's settled. We can go and get everybody else tomorrow."

"Well, Matt, Tai, and Yolei will be coming in on the band plane tonight. I'm supposed to go meet them at ten. Maybe we should go ahead and get them tonight."

"Sweet, it's a big digi-reunion!" Everybody sighed at Chris.

"You know, 'digi' doesn't exactly HAVE to belong in front of everything to do with us.

"Well anyways, it only gets bigger. I have a surprise for you two!" Jennifer walked back from Sora's room carrying two digieggs.

"Are those?" Kari finally began to stutter in excitement. "Gatomon?"

"Yeah, I think they're about to hatch." Indeed, the eggs were shaking rather vigorously, as well as Agumon's and Tentomon's eggs. Finally, a blinding light seared the room as they all hatched simultaneously. Blasts followed from everybody's digivices, causing the baby digimon to quickly digivolve to rookie. After a few moments, Agumon, Tentomon, Salamon, and Gomamon sat in their partner's laps. Down the hall, Sora could be heard exclaiming.

"Biyomon! You're back! I missed you so much!"

"Ow! Sora, you're hurting me! You're a lot bigger than before!" Everybody laughed except for Jennifer, who just smiled.

"Joe! Long time no see buddy!"

"Oh man, I can't wait to be Gatomon again. Kari, could you help me digivolve?"

Mass confusion ensued as the voices of all the digimon and their partners mingled. Kari noticed a problem just as she finished digivolving Gatomon with her digivice. "Wait, if Agumon and Tentomon are your partners, what's going to happen to Tai and Izzy?"

"We haven't figured that out yet." Agumon scratched the back of his head. "I guess we try to be partners for both."

"No, they are your new partners. You need to protect them more than anything." Joe cleared things for everybody. Agumon looked dismayed. "Don't worry though, it's not like Tai and Izzy aren't going to be your friends over this." Everybody murmured and Kari looked at the clock on the wall. It read 9:30.

"Oh no! We should have left a while ago! How could time have flown by like that?"

"I'm afraid that I can't take you all to the airport kids. My car isn't big enough for you all, especially counting them. Oh shoot! Now I'll have to make more food!" Ms. Takenouchi threw down a rag as the thought crossed her mind that she would have more cooking to do.

"Could you make something for Tai, Matt, and Yolei too? They will probably come back with us mom." Sora had come out of her room with Biyomon flying behind her.

"I guess, but it's getting crowded in here. You guys are going to have to find another place to meet soon." Ms. Takenouchi wasn't being mean, she was just telling the truth. The apartment was very small and wasn't large enough for three generations of digidestined.

"We'll figure out something! Let's go! You all stay here! We need to go incognito!" Kari shouted orders to everybody and ran out the door in a hurry.

"Just order a pizza... and no more noodles!!!" Chris shouted as he closed the door behind him, adding the noodle crack as an afterthought. The digimon stood in the kitchen saying bye to their partners as they left.

"So um... how you doing Ms. Takenouchi?" Biyomon landed beside Sora's mom.

"It's good to see you again Biyomon. Sora's missed you."

* * *

By the time everybody had arrived at the airport on the other side of town, the plane had long since landed. Matt, Tai, and Yolei were talking with their families as the digidestined ran up to meet them.

"Tai! Matt! Yolei!" Kari called out to her brother and friends. Then she noticed something else that she hadn't thought of. "TK!" TK was at the airport welcoming his brother, too.

"Hey Kari! Hey Matt, look at who's here!" Matt slowly turned around with an uninterested look on his face. He had been busily fighting off mobs of groupies.

"Oh, what do you know..." He turned back around and handed out autographs. Tai and Yolei ran up and met the group.

"Wow! It's been so long since I've seen you all! Has anything interesting happened while we were gone?"

"Matt, aren't you going to say hello?" TK was still trying to catch Matt's attention, snapping his fingers in front of his face. Matt simply pushed him out of the way.

"You have no idea." Sora laughed and turned to Joey, Chris, Kristen, and Jennifer. "These are some friends we'd like you to meet." Everybody introduced themselves, but Yolei and Tai were confused.

"So, how'd you all meet? Those goggles are cool, where did you get them?" Tai stared at Chris. Kari laughed

"Well... think we ought to do this now?" Chris looked at Joe and Sora and they nodded. "Okay. Hey! Matt, TK, Tai, Yolei! Look this way riiiiiiiight now!" Chris pulled out his digivice and aimed. TK, Tai, and Yolei turned to look, but Matt acted as if he hadn't even heard. Light shot from Chris' digivice and shot at the three older digidestined. A few moments later they stood holding their old digivices, blinking rapidly.

"Woah! What's going on? I thought we took care of everything?" Tai spoke faster than he could think. "THOSE ARE MY GOGGLES!"

"We're un-taking care of things." Chris smirked and lowered his digivice. "Sorry, but you've been drafted." TK turned and looked at Matt who stood taking pictures with fans.

"Matt! Get off your high horse for a minute and get over here!" Matt was oblivious to TK. Sora watched and frowned.

"Sorry TK. I wouldn't try with him." Tai's face grew serious. "Isn't that right Mr. King?" Matt ignored Tai's unimaginative insult.

"What's up with him?" TK looked at Tai.

"He's been stuck up ever since we left on tour. 'Who named the band, Tai? Who is the lead singer, Tai? Who was the person who let you be drummer in the first place, Tai?' I'm sick of it." Tai imitated Matt as he walked by everybody, groupies in tow. Matt crossed the tarmac to a limo that was waiting for everybody in the band, but Matt was the only one that went to it.

"Go ahead Julio; the others have their own rides."

"Si señor Ishida." The Spanish driver obeyed Matt and pulled off, leaving everybody else in the exhaust from the Stretch limo.

"That jerk!" Sora yelled at the top of her lungs. "Who does he think he is!?" She stormed over and shook Tai. "What's up with him!?"

"Fame went straight to his head."

"It's just like My Band!" Chris exclaimed while Sora, Joe, TK, and Kari looked at him confusedly. Tai and Yolei laughed hysterically.

"What are you talking about? You have a band?" Kari was bewildered at Chris' statement.

"It's a song making fun of people like Matt, Kari." Tai quickly explained it to her and recited a few lines, poorly, which made Chris and the other new digidestined laugh even harder. However, they all stopped laughing quickly. A loud rumbling had begun and the entire ground was shaking.

"What's going on?" Kristen slipped, but Chris caught her.

"Earthquake!" Tai ran over to protect Kari from any debris that could fall on her. What he didn't realize was that they were on an airplane tarmac with nothing above them. Tai's, TK's, and Yolei's families ran over to them.

"No, it's not an earthquake look!" Joe pointed into the western sky. In it, a massive light shined from the sky going to the ground.

"What's happening!?" Joey held on to Jennifer.

"It's another portal! A big one! But this one is..."

A loud speaker announced the time: Midnight.


	17. Ch 14: The Dark Ones Meet

**Chapter 14: The Dark Ones Meet**

"Set up base camp here." I turned to the Ogremon leading one of the divisions.

"Yes sir! Dig in boys!" He waved his club in the air telling the Ogremon to get set up.

"Oh, and one more thing." The Ogremon quickly turned around upon hearing me speak. "If any armed humans come, destroy them. If they are unarmed, capture them. If you see any kids or digimon that aren't with us, capture them, too."

"Yes sir. Where are you going?" The Ogremon lowered his club and asked darkly as I began to walk to the city.

"It is good to know the layout of the city one is about to lay siege to." I lied. I just wanted to get ahead of everybody else. We were in Japan and Gennai had told us to find the original digidestined. I told him I would and didn't want to be let him down...

"Oh. Great idea sir!" The Ogremon was trying to score brownie points. He waited a moment and went back to shouting orders to the Ogremon. I ran towards the city, stopping short though when I saw something. On the other side of the city there was a bright glowing light, reaching past the skyscrapers. Either something had exploded or something had digivolved. I smiled to myself and ran into the city.

* * *

The limo suddenly stopped in the middle of the street.

"Julio, what's the big deal?" Matt knocked on the tinted glass between him and his driver. The driver lowered the window.

"I'm sorry Señor Ishida, but there is a kid standing in the street." The driver spoke calmly in his accent to Matt

"I'll take care of this; probably just another crazy fan." Matt stepped out of the limo and walked over to the kid, who was wearing all black clothes, gloves, shades, and a cape.

"What's the idea blocking my limo?" Matt yelled at me. I could instantly tell it was him. I had reviewed myself of any objectives before we left the Digital World.

"You're coming with me." I stood where I was and spoke slowly. Matt laughed.

"Yeah right. What is this? Some kind of sorry ass kidnapping attempt? Listen kid, you are going to have to try harder than that. There are people all over the place who see you so you wouldn't get far, considering who I am."

"You are coming with me either in one piece or in many."

"Whatever." Matt turned around and walked back towards the limo. "Just go Julio; he'll get out of the way." Matt closed the door and left me standing in the middle of the street.

"Okay." Julio pressed the gas and the stretch lurched forward. I simply stood where I was. It came closer and...

"Zero Fist!" I dropped my fist on the hood of the car. The engine block ripped lose and fell out of the bottom of the limo. The back end of it jumped into the air and landed again a moment later. Everybody standing nearby began to run off, except for a few men who walked towards me. Matt jumped out of the limo, shocked.

"Okay kid. I think it's time for bed." The first guy came up to me with his arms crossed. The situation reminded me of the Bakemon.

"I'm warning you. Don't make me angry." I stood where I had and spoke in the same dark tone.

"Listen to him! Alright, if it's a fight you want." The second man threw his fist at me. I jumped up and outside of the circle of four guys who had come to deal with me. Matt watched in horror at my next moves.

"Zero Fist!" I landed on the ground beside the guy who had tried to hit me and slammed him in the back. He was thrown forward into another man, bringing them both to the ground. I could hear the deafening scream come from the man I had hit. The other two men ran at me. I smirked and followed procedure. "Zero Fist!" My glove hit the man in the chest and I could hear his rib cage break apart. "Zero Fist!" I whipped around and hit the other man in the head. A loud snap cracked forth as his head rocked back violently. He dropped to the ground and didn't move. "Now Mr. Ishida, enough of this. You are coming with me. First though..." I pulled out my digivice, completely black, and showed it to him. A wave of dark energy shot from it and flew through Matt. He shook where he stood for a moment with his eyes closed. When he opened them he noticed his digivice.

"Holy shit... Ken?" Matt looked at me with wide eyes, thinking I was the Digimon Emperor.

"No. I am far more than he ever was or ever will be." I ran up and went to punch Matt, not as a special attack but just normally. I had to make sure not to kill him; yet. Matt dodged my fist and walked away backwards from me.

"Who are you? What have you done to the Digital World!?" Matt began to remember his adventures.

"It doesn't matter who I am anymore." At that, I saw them. Kazemon was flying towards the camp but stopped over me, drawn by the smoke coming from the busted limo. The driver finally got out of it and ran off, leaving Matt to defend himself. Kazemon clenched tightly to Kumamon in her arms.

"Matt!" Kazemon yelled out to him as she landed on the other side of me. "Get out of here!" He didn't hesitate and ran down the road. I turned around. These two would have to be dealt with before pursuing him.

"So, I see you two made it here. What about the other losers." I took off my shades and looked at Kazemon. Kazemon let go of Kumamon and he landed with a thud. He ran around her and stopped when he saw me. They both devolved.

"James!" Joey ran up to me and hugged me. "We thought you were a gonner!"

"Let go of me you little brat." I backhanded him and watched as he tumbled to the ground. He began to cry.

"James! What is this all about!?" Jennifer ran up to Joey and helped him to his feet.

"You two need to come with me. Now." I spoke slowly and coldly. Jennifer stood where she was.

"No! Something is a matter with you! What has happened?" Jennifer pulled her digivice back out to digivolve. I pulled mine out as well. Jennifer looked at it and looked at me worriedly. "James, come on! We've got to get you out of here!"

"No Jennifer. I've learned something." I slowly walked towards her. "Love, Friendship, Knowledge, Courage, Hope; they are all useless. You couldn't even protect yourselves from a rookie. It is the pain, suffering, and despair that give us true power." Jennifer's mouth was agape, unable to believe that I was evil.

"What did he do to you James?" She let go of Joey and walked towards me.

"He gave me what I always wanted: Power. Now come with me or I will have to show you my wrath." She held her digivice tight.

"Spirit Code Activate!" Light surrounded her and Kazemon kicked me. I was thrown back a few yards, but landed on my feet.

"That was a dirty trick; how nice." I ran at her. "Zero Fist!" She jumped into the air and flew above me.

"James, snap out of it!"

"Out of what? You snap out of it! Black Storm!" A bolt of energy shot from my gloves and crashed into Kazemon. She floated in the air a moment, but then fell to the ground, smoking from the attack. Joey finally decided to join in.

"Spirit Code Activate!" Kumamon quickly pulled out his bazooka and opened fire. "Blizzard Blaster!" The snowballs launched at me in rapid succession and I merely moved out of his line of fire.

"Zero Fist!" I punched Kumamon in the face and watched data blast off him. The blow itself had made him devolve, not the injury like usual. "You should have run kid. Now, both of you are coming with me, and I'm not going to be nice about it either."

"Leave him alone!" I turned around only to meet Matt's fist with my face. I fell backwards and hit the ground. He stomped on me, pinning me to the ground. "What kind of punk do you think you are?"

"It was a mistake to come back. Zero..." I couldn't finish my attack because he stomped on me again. I felt my chest crack. "Devibomb!" I felt my pain shoot to my heart and blast out. The explosion sent Joey and Jennifer flying, but didn't seem to affect Matt. "What the hell!?" Matt stood shielding his eyes. He lowered his armed and looked around confused. I took advantage of the moment and grabbed his leg. Pain shot through my body from the broken bones. I pulled and he fell, landing headfirst on the asphalt. I stood up shakily and looked around myself; Matt lied unconscious from the blow to his head. Jennifer and Joey were knocked out in the distance from my attack. Why hadn't Matt been hit by it? I began to slowly walk back towards camp. I pulled my shades out of my pocked and looked at them. They were still in one piece so I put them back on. I ached all over from the fight.

* * *

"Jennifer! Joey!" Chris ran around the corner onto the street where the three digidestined lied. "Guys hurry over here! They're hurt!" Tai, Joe, Sora, Kristen, Kari, TK, and Yolei ran after him and towards the three. The limo was lying upside down now. It had flipped from the Devibomb. Sirens could be heard in the distance. Somebody who had run off had called the cops. I was long gone though. Tai ran over to Jennifer and picked her up. Joe did the same for Joey. Sora ran over to Matt.

"Matt?" He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Sora? I'm sorry for being a jerk back at the airport." Matt's pride was hurt from the fight. It was the first time he had lost anything since he had left on tour. Sora helped him up.

"What happened to them?" Tai called out to Matt. They didn't know I had showed him my digivice or that he remembered anything, so it came as a surprise when Matt responded.

"Some crazy kid attacked my limo and nearly killed them!" Matt pointed at Jennifer and Joey. "They digivolved and tried to stop him, but he just tore through them like they weren't even there. I think he was a friend of theirs. They called him James."

"What!?" Chris looked at Matt. "James did this? But how?"

"Well he did break off iron bars and attack Myotismon. He might be strong enough." Kristen looked in awe at the slow-burning wreckage of the limo.

"But why would he do it?" Chris looked at Jennifer who was hanging over Tai's shoulder.

"Maybe Myotismon got to him." Matt answered again, confusing the original digidestined.

"How do you know about all this Matt?" Kari glared at him suspiciously as she leaned out of a store door. She was looking for witnesses.

"The kid showed me his digivice and it blasted me. After that I could remember everything." Matt brushed himself off and Sora helped.

"You missed a spot." Sora licked her thumb and rubbed against a stain in Matt's shirt while he pulled a tissue out of his pocket to wrap around the cut bleeding from his head.

"Then it had to be him." Kristen looked down with her eyes closed. "But how could a kid get power like this? Even Ken had to rely on other digimon; he couldn't ever attack by himself."

"Yeah Matt, you fought him. Tell us." TK looked at his brother with his arms crossed. The sirens got closer.

"Can we do this somewhere else? I don't feel like explaining this to the cops." Matt looked over his shoulder as the glow of the blue lights got closer.

"Let's get back to my house." Sora grabbed Matt's arm and pulled. "Come on." They all ran down the street and turned a corner just in time to see the patrol cars race past them towards the scene.

* * *

Sora opened the door to the apartment slowly and walked in. There was a note on the counter from her mom. She had left out the food she had cooked for them.

"Wow, this is for us?" Tai whispered to Sora. "Thank god. That airline food was crap." Tai assaulted the food as everybody filed in. The digimon were strewn about the living room sleeping. Matt noticed them and nearly jumped out of his skin. Matt walked in carrying Jennifer; Tai had worn out on the trip to the apartment. Joe followed in with Joey.

"What are they doing here!? What's going on!?" Matt walked between Gatomon, who was curled up on the carpet, and Biyomon, who was leaning against a coffee table.

"We can talk about it in the morning. Let's just eat and go to sleep." Kari made herself a plate. There was food missing from where the digimon had gotten tired of waiting and had finally dug in.

"Noodles..." Chris muttered to himself dejectedly. Everybody took their fair share and ate quickly. Tai was done first and walked into the living room. He saw Agumon sitting on the couch.

"Man it's good to have you back." Tai looked at the lizard sleeping lazily on the couch.

"Don't wake him up. He's been through a lot already." Chris got up from the table and whispered to Tai.

"What do you mean?" Tai turned and stared at Chris, shocked that anybody would order him to do something about his partner.

"Hey you two; quit arguing and wait till morning." Joe walked down the hall from Sora's room where he and Matt had put Joey and Jennifer. "We all need some shut eye." Tai and Chris agreed and found places to get comfortable. Everybody got situated and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

"Hurry it up with that tent!" The Ogremon yelled at some of the others under his command. He turned around to see me limping towards camp. He ran towards me to help. "My lord! What happened?"

"Zero Fist!" I punched him in the gut and watched him drop to his knees. "Leave me alone." I walked towards the oriental style building and walked inside. It had been designated as headquarters. I laid down on my sleeping bag in the room and winced in pain.

"Still human." I spoke to myself as sleep swept over me.

"Yes, you are." I sat up quickly and saw Myotismon walk out of a shadowy corner of the room. "What happened?" He stared at me painfully. I didn't want to be there.

"I... I got in a fight with the digidestined. They've already begun finding the formers."

"You lost?" Myotismon began to fill with rage.

"No my lord! Of course not! All fights come with their prices!" I began to shake. Myotismon was furious. He didn't tolerate failure. And in my injured state, I was in no condition to resist anything he might decide to do.

"Then where are they? I thought I told you to capture them!" Myotismon began to form his whip in his hand.

"More were coming and I was already injured!" I began to talk quickly and tried to stand up. I fell back down in pain from my broken ribs. "I could have captured them but I would have been overtaken!"

"Then you failed me. You know what happens to failures." The Crimson Whip glowed in the dark.

"Please, no Myotismon! It was but one battle! The war will be ours!" I began to panic.

"That's Lord Myotismon to you, scumb. Crimson Whip!" I felt it slash across my broken ribs and pain seared my body. I screamed. It came down again and again until I fell unconscious. "See that you don't fail me again." Myotismon walked out of the building and into the crowd of Ogremon. He had brought more forces with him; Bakemon and Devidramon mingled with the Ogremon. He walked up to two Bakemon.

"Guard that building. Make sure he doesn't come out."

"Yes my lord." The Bakemon gathered a few of their friends and floated about the building, passing in and out of it to make sure I hadn't snuck out for a while.

"It was a mistake to send him already."


	18. Ch 15: Calm before the Storm

**Chapter 15: Calm before the Storm**

It was the next day and the Digidestined were discussing what was going on. Normally some of them would have been in school, but it was the weekend, so they were free to help out. They had all decided to relocate their meetings to a park downtown. Matt, TK, and Yolei had been reunited with their Digimon early that morning, but Tai was left out. Agumon was partnered with Chris now, leaving an uneasy silence between the three. All of the digimon were wearing their goofy disguises so not to attract attention, but it may have been counter-productive. The troop of digidestined argued over what their plan of attack should be. Chris and Tai silently struggled against each other for leadership.

"Okay, so the worlds are getting closer and we think Myotismon is here. One digidestined has turned evil and we are racing against time to find the other original digidestined. Have I missed anything?" Tai looked about at everybody who was sitting on the grass; except for Chris.

"No, that's pretty much it." Kristen was lying back on the grass with Tentomon floating about above her. "We just need to figure out which we take care of first." Tai began to speak but Chris cut him off.

"We should get the other digidestined first. If Jennifer was able to digivolve to ultimate with Sora's help, then maybe we could get to Mega levels if everybody was here. Then, we could take out Myotismon easily." Chris pounded his hand with his fist.

"What about James? Do you plan on destroying him too?" Jennifer stared at Chris, knowing well ahead of time that he had no answer. While he struggled with words, Kari spoke up.

"We should probably ask Ken for help on that one. He is the only person that could understand what's up with him. Maybe we could heal him the same way?" Matt looked away towards where he and I had fought the night before as Kari proposed her idea.

"I don't know about that. I don't think he is evil for the same reasons as Ken was." Everybody looked at Matt.

"What do you mean?" Matt turned and looked at Gabumon, who was about level with him when he was sitting down.

"Ken became evil because he was trying to be what he thought he destroyed." Matt was referring to Ken's brother. "I think James is evil for something else."

"And how would you know?" Tai glared at Matt. He didn't like how Matt had forgotten how stuck up he had been so quickly.

"Considering he revived my memory, fired a dark explosion on me that didn't do anything, and that we got in a fist fight, I think I would know more than anybody; especially you." Matt stood up and snapped at Tai. "And don't forget. I went my own way for a while."

"Calm down Matt!" Gabumon grabbed hold of Matt's hand and pulled him back down. "The last thing we need is more fighting between us." Matt hesitated for a moment, spacing out looking at the grass. He breathed a heavy sigh and leaned back.

"You're right."

"I think Chris is right." Kristen stood up and addressed everybody. "We need to find the others. Myotismon doesn't stand a chance against all of us." Everybody murmured and nodded in agreement. "Now who do we bring back first?"

"We should split up. You and I can go get Izzy; Chris and Tai can go get Ken and Davis; Joey, TK, and Matt can go get Cody; and Jennifer and Sora can go get Mimi." Joe designated who was to get who. "Sound good?" Everybody nodded again. "Then let's go. You guys stay here, we'll be right back." Joe whispered to Gomamon and the other digimon before he walked away. Everybody took off in the direction of their person except for Jennifer and Sora.

"I thought Mimi was in America?" Jennifer asked Sora, already afraid of what their only option would be.

"She is." Silence ensued between the two. "We could fly..."

"There's no way I can carry you all the way across the Pacific and then across the rest of the US." Jennifer yawned. "Besides, I'm still exhausted from last night."

"Then we'll just have to get a plane ticket." Sora turned around and began walking towards the street.

"You can't just call her?"

"I lost her number." Sora said without turning around and Jennifer jogged to catch up with the older girl. "Anyway, how would I explain to her that the world is in crisis and we need her to come here to fight for us?"

(---) (---) (---)

"Hi, is Izzy in?" Joe and Kristen stood outside Izzy's dorm. His roommate had opened the door, dressed only in boxers, and yawned. Kristen turned red and looked him up and down.

"No, he's down at the computer center." He turned around and closed the door. Joe began to walk down the hall absentmindedly before he forgot that Kristen was still at the door.

"Come on Kristen, the computer center is this way." Joe stopped and turned around.

"What? Oh! Coming." Joe laughed, realizing what she was blushing about.

They left, walked down some stairs, out the dorm, and across the street to another building. They went inside and took the first door on their left. Inside was rows of computers, most of which were turned off. They looked to the back and saw Izzy typing franticly with a headset on. A web cam was aimed at him while he typed. As Joe and Kristen reached the back row Izzy suddenly screamed out.

"WHAT!? What do you mean you already sent them there!?" On the screen was a very fuzzy picture of a man, as well as lines of programming code. Izzy didn't notice Joe and Kristen. "What if they are dead by now? We didn't even meet him until we had been around for months! How long did you say they had been there, a few weeks at the most?"

"Hey Izzy, somebody mess up in one of your games?" Joe tapped Izzy on the shoulder and he jumped. Izzy quickly minimized the window.

"Talk later!" He hit the escape key; hanging up on whomever he had been talking to. "Joe! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry. Who was that anyways?" Joe pointed to the screen.

"Um... just another person playing Everquest. Who's that?" Izzy hastily jumbled his sentence together and changed the subject. He pointed at Kristen.

"She's a good friend of mine. I told her about you and she wanted to meet you."

"My name's Kristen." She had her hands in her pockets and pulled one out to shake Izzy's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you." As Izzy took hold of Kristen's hand, she pulled her left hand out of her other pocket, holding her digivice. She shoved it in Izzy's face, causing him to let go of her hand and stumble backwards. Nothing happened.

"Hey! Why won't this stupid thing work?" Kristen pounded the digivice against the table and showed it to Izzy again. Izzy sat on the ground and looked up in awe.

"What are you doing with a... GENNAI!" Izzy jumped up and sat at the computer again. He maximized the screen he had put away a moment before. Instead of a picture, there was a list of phone numbers. One was odd; a few numbers too long. Izzy double-clicked on it and put his headset back on.

"Wait a minute Izzy. How did you know about Gennai?" Joe glared at Izzy, expecting him to turn around, but Izzy ignored him. A picture flashed to life on the screen. It was a video of a man adjusting a headset similar to Izzy's.

"What is it Izzy? Why did you hang up on me? Is somebody there?" Kristen looked closer at the fuzzy picture and moved into the web cam's line of sight.

"Gennai? Hey! What are you doing? How does Izzy already know about you?" Kristen recognized Gennai and crouched down beside Izzy to show her face. Izzy blushed a bit.

"They're here." Izzy spoke gloomily. Gennai laughed.

"I guess were caught. Sorry I didn't tell you all Kristen, but Izzy never forgot. It is amazing how a little bit of tin-foil on your head can block signals. Have you found any of the others? How is everybody?" Gennai leaned back in his chair.

"Izzy! You didn't wipe your memory! You were the one who convinced us to get it done!" Joe yelled at Izzy as he looked down. He took off the headset and stood up. Kristen quickly grabbed it and sat in the chair Izzy had been in.

"Gennai needed somebody to keep in contact with here! I'm the only one that could secretly speak with him easily like this!" As Izzy and Joe argued, Kristen talked with Gennai.

"We already found most of the original digidestined, but we're in trouble."

"Trouble? How? What kind of trouble?" Gennai sat up straight and sipped on a glass of tea that sat beside the computer.

"James was captured by Myotismon and now he's fighting for him." Gennai dropped the glass cup of tea and choked. It could be heard shattering on the floor.

"Wh... what?" Gennai turned red as the scalding tea went down his throat the wrong way.

"He nearly killed Jennifer, Joey, and Matt. He's evil now. What do we do?" Gennai stared at the screen for a moment and looked shocked. He sighed painfully and looked away.

"Kill him." Gennai spoke coldly and simply. Izzy and Joe stopped arguing.

"Excuse me?" Kristen stuttered a little at what Genai had said.

"Kill him. He can't be allowed to gather any more power through his digivice. He was never supposed to be in this to begin with, you can get along without him." Gennai continued to speak slowly; forcing out words as they came to him. Kristen chuckled a little.

"Ha ha Gennai, very funny. Seriously, what do we do?"

"I am being serious Kristen. You have to kill him. If Myotismon gets the power from James' digivice and gives it to Daemon, there will be nothing we can do." Everybody sat in silence.

"We can't kill another digidestined Gennai. It's wrong and you know it." Kristen spoke softly now, nearly in tears at the idea of having to kill somebody. Not just data but an actual person she knew.

"You have to, or you are in a sense killing every digimon and person in existence."

"There has to be another way! I mean, you didn't kill the other digidestined who turned evil! What about Matt? What about Ken, or Kouichi? You didn't kill them! Why do you have to get _us_ to kill our own!?" Kristen yelled at the monitor.

"I knew that he would be like them when his digivice turned black around the edges. However, I never thought that he would turn completely evil. He has no partner or spirit to help him through this. That is the difference." Gennai was breathing heavily. "I must go. Just do as I have said and try to move on." Gennai reached for the escape key on his computer.

"Wait!" The picture blinked out and the list of numbers came up again. Kristen was left with her hand on the screen. "I can't kill him. I couldn't kill any of them." Kristen began to waver between despair and anger.

"Calm down Kristen." Izzy helped her out of the chair. "We'll find a way, I promise. Nobody will have to kill anybody." Izzy looked nervously at Joe. Joe knew Izzy was lying to Kristen to try and make her feel better. He sighed and nodded slightly. They waited for Kristen to calm down and left the computer center.

(---) (---) (---)

"Are you sure this is where Ken lives?" Chris looked up at Tai.

"Positive. Just because we forgot about the digital world doesn't mean we forgot about each other. I mean, it's only been two years since we beat Malomyotismon." Tai knocked on the door. He waited for Ken's mom to open the door.

"Hi, can I help you?" She stood nervously and looked up at Tai, who was much taller than she was.

"Hi ma'am; is Ken and Davis here?" Tai slouched a little to try and intimidate Ken's mother less.

"Oh! They're in his room. Ken! Davis! You have visitors!" Tai and Chris stepped inside and took off their shoes. Ken and Davis could be heard running down the hall, but stopped with a loud thud.

"That's for shooting me in the back." Ken jumped over Davis who was lying on the floor now.

"I told you I didn't know friendly fire was on!" Davis pushed himself up and grabbed Ken's ankle trying to trip him up. Ken broke free and walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Tai, what are you doing here?" Ken didn't even pay attention to Chris. Davis walked into the kitchen and looked at his soccer idol.

"Did Kari finally decide to go on a date with me!?" Davis began to get excited. "I knew she couldn't ignore my calls forever!"

"Yeah, about that Davis; quit it. You've interrupted our dinner more than any telemarketer ever could. No that's not why we're here." Everybody laughed at Davis' expense. Ken's parents walked out of the den to their bedroom, unable to continue their discussion over the racket that the digidestined were making. "I'd like you to meet a buddy of mine. Chris, Ken and Davis; Ken and Davis, Chris." Tai pointed out who was who and winked at Chris. He understood and put his hands into his pockets.

"Are you trying to copy me or something? What's with the goggles? They look just like my old ones." Davis stared at the goggles resting on Chris' head. Chris began to pull his hands out of his pockets as if to grab hold of the goggles.

"Oh these?" He pulled out his digivice and flashed it at the two. It glared brightly and caught Ken and Davis off guard.

"What's going on?" Ken threw up his arm across his eyes.

"Ow! What's the big idea man?" Davis covered his eyes with his hands and rubbed as if he had gotten sand in them. The light cleared and they lowered their arms. They blinked a few times and looked at the digivice closer.

"That's a digivice." Ken's eyes widened.

"Very good. Now can you spell it?" Chris spoke sarcastically like an elementary school teacher.

"Shut up. What are you doing with a digivice?" Davis snapped back at Chris and stepped forward while Ken mockingly muttered how to spell digivice to himself.

"D-i-g-i-v..."

"I'm a digidestined. Why else would I have it?" Chris stepped closer to Davis. The two were on the verge of fighting. Ken just stood back in awe that there were more digidestined. Tai pushed the two apart.

"Slow down! I swear, you are at his throat faster than you were at TK's!" Tai laughed at Davis as he and Chris took swings at each other. They flailed about, unable to reach each other with Tai holding them at bay from between. "Save it for Myotismon."

"I thought we killed Myotismon." Davis stopped swinging and looked up.

"Yeah, well he's been 'killed' a lot so..." Tai stopped holding Chris and Davis at bay.

"What about the others?" Ken began to look around for his parents.

"We already found them and let them know. We need to get to the park downtown, everybody is waiting."

"Mom! We're going out for a while!" Ken yelled down the hall to his parent's room.

"Okay honey!" They put on their shoes and ran out the door.

(---) (---) (---)

"I'm... ex...hausted." Jennifer devolved and nearly fell over. It was the middle of the night in New York, so nobody had seen her land. "You could stand to lose a few pounds." The two had caught the fastest flight to New York from Odaiba International Airport—Sora had paid for two tickets with some of her savings. The flight was delayed when it was routed through Denver. Jennifer had decided to just fly the two the rest of the way.

"Shut up. Come on. We have to find Mimi." Sora walked towards a pay phone.

"You mean... you don't know... where she... lives?" Jennifer struggled to catch up with her.

"Not exactly." Sora flipped opened the phone book attached to the pay phone and looked at it. She turned red. "Um... here."

"What? Oh." Jennifer realized Sora couldn't read it. She looked at the phone book and flipped through. "What's her last name?"

"Tachikawa." Sora looked over Jennifer's shoulder, trying to help Jennifer find the name. "There it is!" Sora pointed out the last name Tachikawa; it was the only one in the book, strange since New York was such a large city. "Call her."

"It's the middle of the night. She's probably asleep." Jennifer ripped the page out of the phone book.

"It's more likely she isn't even home. She's always up late. Just call." Sora picked up the phone and handed it to Jennifer.

"It has her address here, why don't we just go." Jennifer put the phone back on the receiver.

"Because we don't know where that is." Sora picked the phone back up and handed it to Jennifer. It would have been funny to see the way the two kept repeating the process. The phone went back and forth from the receiver a few more times before Jennifer finally gave in.

"Fine, but if her parents chew me out, it's your fault." Jennifer dialed the number and listened to the other end ring. It rang once before somebody picked up. Music could be heard in the background.

"Hello?" A sweet, yet slightly country-ish sounding voice spoke into the phone.

"Yes, is this Mimi?" Jennifer looked at Sora. Sora smirked in victory.

"Yeah, who's this?" Mimi sounded like she was chewing gum. People could be heard in the background yelling at her to hang up and come party.

"A friend of Sora's. We're in America for a few days and were wondering if we could come over."

"Sora is here with you!? Yeah, sure! Come on over!"

"Okay, thanks! Where do you live exactly?" Mimi gave directions and Jennifer wrote them down quickly.

"Is Sora there now?" Mimi asked again when she was done with the directions.

"Sure. Just a sec." Jennifer handed Sora the phone. Sora and Mimi chatted for a minute before they finally hung up and started walking down the lit street. After a few blocks Jennifer spoke up. "How are we going to do this?"

"What do you mean?" Sora kept looking forward.

"It sounded like she was throwing a party. How are we going to use our digivices if so many people are around?" Jennifer stopped walking and tugged on Sora's arm. Sora spun about and stopped

"I don't know, we'll figure something out along the way." Sora turned back around and started walking again. "Come on, I don't like this place."

They were walking through a dreary neighborhood. A few alleys they passed were filled with homeless people who would stare at the two girls as they walked along. As they walked past another alley, a man jumped out and shoved a gun in their face.

"Now what are two young ladies like yourselves doing out so late?" The man advanced but Sora and Jennifer didn't back down.

"We don't have time for this." Jennifer knocked the gun out of the man's hand and he turned to watch it hit the ground a few feet away. He turned back in time to see Sora kick him in the crotch. He fell to the ground holding himself and whimpered a bit.

"Now what is a young man such as yourself doing out so late?" Sora smirked and kicked him again in the stomach. The two stepped over him and kept walking. "See why I don't like this place?"

(---) (---) (---)

"Mimi better turn it down before the police come for some noise complaint." Sora and Jennifer walked up the stairs from the sidewalk and pressed the buzzer. They waited a moment before they got a response. Mimi leaned out of the window above and looked down.

"Sora!" She waved at Sora, a goofy smile on her face. Her balance was off a little and she nearly fell out of the window.

"Hey Mimi! Can we come on up?" Sora looked up at her friend.

"Sure, jus a minute." Mimi slurred slightly and closed the window. A few moments later they could hear a buzzing sound and the door unlocked. They walked inside and up the stairs to Mimi's apartment. Even over the loud music, they thought they could hear crying in the downstairs apartment. Mimi was waiting at the top of the stairs. "Sora! I haven't seen you in so long!" Mimi hugged her friend when she reached the top of the stairs. Sora pushed away a bit.

"You're drunk!" The smell of beer floated about them. "Mimi! What are you doing drunk!" Sora raised her voice a little, shocked at Mimi.

"I've just gotta little buzz. Come on, I've told everybody about you." She grabbed hold of Sora's arm and pulled. Sora stood where she was. Mimi had closed the door to the apartment when she came out. Sora turned to Jennifer and she understood. Jennifer reached to the belt loop on her jeans.

"No Mimi, I'm not going in there. Where are your parents?" Sora pulled back on Mimi's arm.

"Oh don't be such a drag. They're out of town!" Jennifer pulled out her digivice and held it up. Light shot out of it and blinded Mimi.

"Hey! What are you doing?" The light cleared and Mimi was on her knees, rubbing her eyes. Her digivice lied on the ground in front of her. "What is a digivise doing here?"

"Come on Mimi, we've got to go. We need you again." Sora watched as Mimi picked grabbed the digivice and clumsily got to her feet. She looked at it for a moment and looked up.

"No. Not again!" Mimi threw the digivice down the stairwell. It bounced off the floor. "I don't want to go through that again!" She turned around to run back inside but lost her balance and fell.

"That's not you talking Mimi, it's the booze." Sora helped her friend to her feet supported her. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Mimi leaned over the rail of the stairway and heaved. Sora and Jennifer turned away.

"I don't know Sora, maybe we shouldn't bring her along. She's in no shape for this. And I know I can't fly both of you back, especially like this." Jennifer looked at the wall of the stairway opposite of Mimi.

"Gennai said to get all of us, didn't he!?" Sora yelled at Jennifer. "Mimi is a digidestined and she's coming with us! She'll be fine! As for getting back, we'll just take another plane!"

"Could you keep it down? It's enough that you have the music blaring above us, but now this!? Can't we just have some peace!!?" A man stood in the doorway to the downstairs apartment. A woman could be heard screaming in the background.

"Move! I can't take this anymore! I'm going to find my son!" A woman raged out of the apartment holding a suitcase. She had long blonde hair that seemed familiar to Jennifer. She walked outside and yelled. "Joey!!! Joey please come home!!! Where are you!!?" The woman looked all around her before seeing a taxi. She waved it down. Jennifer ran after her while Sora finally helped Mimi down the stairs.

"Ma'am, what did you say your son's name was?" The woman turned around and looked at Jennifer, tears running down her eyes.

"His name is Joey. He's only a little boy! What would anybody want with him?" The woman dropped her suitcase and collapsed onto Jennifer. The taxi pulled up.

"Does he have blonde hair? Is he about yeigh tall? Quick, tell me!" Jennifer held her hands about four feet off the ground, trying to match Joey's height.

"Yes! Do you know where he is? Where is he? Tell me!" Joey's mom began to lose her cool, at least in comparison, giving Jennifer a hard shake.

"He's in Japan! Put your suitcase in the taxi, we're going there now!" Joey's mom began to get excited.

"Japan!? What is he doing all the way over there?" She picked up her bags and threw them in the trunk of the taxi.

"They're lying Ana! Don't believe this bullshit! You aren't going anywhere. Look at me when I talk to you!" Joey's dad yanked on the woman's arm, spinning her around. He slapped her and she fell to the ground.

"Get Mimi in the taxi Sora!" Mimi and Sora were running outside; they had just picked up Mimi's digivice off the floor of the stairwell. Jennifer grabbed hold of Joey's father's shoulder. "Who do you think you are?"

"Get the hell off." Joey's father backhanded Jennifer. She didn't fall like Joey's mom, but stood back. "Who do you think you are, pumping her full of lies and hope like this!?" Jennifer could smell beer on his breath even more than on Mimi's. While Joey's father yelled at Jennifer and slapped her again, Joey's mom got in the taxi with Sora and Mimi.

"Go! I'll catch up!" Joey's father slapped Jennifer once again and turned around. Joey's mother slammed the taxi door. The taxi driver slammed on the pedal and drove off.

"God damnit! I'll kill you!" Joey's father took a swing at Jennifer, turning back, enraged that his wife had zoomed away, but she was up and fighting back now. He missed and turned to swing again. Jennifer pulled out her digivice.

"Spirit Code Activate!" She digivolved and dodged another punch at the same time. Kazemon emerged and the man stood back.

"What are you?" He looked at Kazemon in fear and continued walking backwards.

"You have no right to do that to her or anybody!" Kazemon punched Joey's father across the face and he fell to the ground. He hit his head on the concrete steps leading to the door of the building and fell unconscious. Kazemon picked him up. She walked inside Joey's apartment and dropped him on the couch. Beer bottles and other various objects lied strewn about the room; some broken from being thrown. Kazemon walked back into Joey's room. There was a teddy bear ripped open and its stuffing was scattered everywhere. A plush Terriermon sat on the ground, halfway under the bed. Joey's love for digimon was apparent. Kazemon found some paper that Joey used to draw on and quickly wrote a note.

"Dear Mr..." Kazemon realized she didn't know Joey's last name. She looked around and found some homework with Joey's last name on it: Sims. "Dear Mr. Sims, I am deeply sorry that I injured you. Your wife and I will be in Japan, however from the looks of your apartment, I wonder if she will be willing to come back. Please come to your senses and stop this madness. Sincerely..." Kazemon looked up for a second. She didn't want to use her real name in case Mr. Sims filed a warrant. "Sincerely, Kazemon." She took the note and placed it on the kitchen table. She walked outside and closed the door. By now, people from Mimi's party upstairs were out in the stairwell. They stared at Kazemon.

"Dude! Look at that!" One teen pointed at Kazemon, a handful of people behind him murmuring. His hair nearly covered his eyes and he sounded drunk. Kazemon ignored them and closed the door to Joey's apartment. She ran outside and took off down the street in the direction of the taxi. It only took a few moments for her to find it and she landed down the street in front of it. She devolved before it came into sight and waved it down when it came close. The driver recognized Jennifer and stopped. Jennifer got in the back seat and looked around. Ms. Sims was in the front; Sora sat in the back with Mimi passed out against her shoulder.

"How did you get ahead of us? What is going on?" Ms. Sims was slightly calmer now, but still frantic. "Why is my son in Japan?"

"It is a long story Ms. Sims and this isn't a good place to talk about it I'll tell you when we get to the airport." Ms. Sims understood and looked forward with a sigh. Jennifer looked wearily out the window at the passing streetlights.

(---) (Two days later...) (---)

"Mom!!! What are you doing here!?" Joey ran up to his mother as she walked into the apartment. Her face lit up and she crouched down to catch her son.

"Where have you been? I've been so worried." She held Joey in an extremely tight hug.

"Mom, you're hurting me!" TK and Matt laughed. Joey had been staying with Matt, who was staying at his father's apartment. He hadn't bought a house of his own yet, too busy on tour, but had been eyeing one in Osaka. TK was simply visiting. Jennifer leaned on in the doorway and smiled. She thought back to Joey's father and hoped he would straighten himself out. Ms. Sims finally let go, but led Joey to a loveseat in Mr. Ishida's living room. They sat down and she hugged him from the side.

"I heard you've been quite the little hero!" She spoke in the usual, overly-cheerful, motherly voice that Jennifer remembered from her mom when she was little. Joey started explaining his adventures to his mom while Matt and TK led Jennifer out of the room. Jennifer, Sora, and Ms. Sims had only just arrived and had yet to be briefed on recent events.

"Jennifer, we have a problem." TK began to speak slowly, the joy from seeing Joey and his mom reunited gone from his face.

"What is it?" Jennifer looked worriedly at the two.

"It is James. Gennai says we should, well... that we should..." TK tried to put it lightly but couldn't find appropriate words. Matt picked up where his brother left off.

"Gennai says we should kill him." Matt spoke blatantly.

"What? How could he say that? Wait... how did you talk to Gennai?" Jennifer looked back and forth between Matt and TK suspiciously.

"Izzy's been talking with him on his computer. Anyways, we know what you're thinking and think the same thing. We all decided we would have to fight him sooner or later, but that killing him was out of the question." TK started talking again now that the hard part was done.

"Okay, so what are we going to do?" Jennifer looked at TK, who was only slightly taller than she was. They were the same age and came about level with each other.

"We fight him until he is weak, than let our digivices do the rest. Once we drive whatever is making him evil out, we destroy it and get him back to our side. We think Myotismon is making him this way." Matt walked back inside to check on Joey and Ms. Sims.

"So when do we fight him? We don't even know where he is."

"Yeah, that's the only problem." TK pulled his Gilligan hat off and scratched his head. "We will just have to wait until he shows up again."

"What if he doesn't show back up?" Jennifer crossed her arms. A phone could be heard ringing inside the apartment. Matt ran over and picked it up.

"Listen, all we can do is wait. We don't know where he is and even if we did, Myotismon would be bound to be near him." TK was frustrated. Jennifer backed off and calmed down to keep from getting in a fight with him. He looked like he had been up for days. Matt quickly put the phone on the receiver and ran out to TK and Jennifer.

"Guys, we gotta go. Myotismon is attacking from the camp." Matt put on his shoes.

"What? What about Joey?" Jennifer looked back into the apartment. Joey and his mom were standing up now, watching Matt quickly put on his shoes.

"They can stay here. Let them have some time together." A tear came to Ms. Sims' eyes.

"No, you take Joey. You need him." Ms. Sims pushed Joey to a chair and helped him put on his shoes.

"Is it just Myotismon?" TK looked at Matt as he hurriedly picked his digivice up from the counter.

"Gabumon! Wake up! We're going!" Matt yelled to his partner. "Wake up Patamon too!" The two digimon came racing down the hall from Matt's room. "No. It's an entire army of Ogremon. Biyomon isn't sure, but she says she thought she saw James too. If you ask me, we're in for a long afternoon. Let's go."

"No rest for the weary..." Jennifer muttered to herself as she walked out the door.


	19. Ch 16: Three Kings

**Chapter 16: Three Kings**

I slowly woke up and opened my eyes. There was only a weak red glow in the room, but it stung anyway, so I closed my eyes. Before I did, I noticed my shades lied on the floor; the frame bent out of shape, the lens shattered and scattered about. I swore under my breath. Lately bright light bothered me more and more, to the point that anything greater than moonlight hurt. My shades had been what let me freely roam in the day.

As my senses came back to me, I realized I wasn't touching the ground. My wrists hurt from fatigue and whatever they were tied with burned; probably Myotismon's Crimson Whip. I looked up and opened my eyes for a split-second to check; I was right. The glowing red whip banded my wrists together and against the wall. The whip was tied just below my gloves so that it burned the skin. As I hung against the wall, I heard a Bakemon float through the wall. Something made the cuts and wounds on my back burn and sting as he floated in.

"So you finally woke up, punk?" The Bakemon taunted me without fear, since I was restrained. Rage built up inside me. "I heard that wimpy little scream of yours. 'Oh please Lord Myotismon! Don't hurt me!' Ha ha!" The Bakemon made a high-pitched voice, trying to imitate me. "Remember, you're only human; a lowly, pathetic, weak, human." I couldn't take it anymore. My eyes snapped open and I focused, ignoring my sore eyes. The Crimson Whip broke and I fell to the floor. I was heavily injured and in excruciating pain. My anger only made it flare up more, which in turn made me angrier; a vicious cycle. Dark clouds of energy appeared around me

"Zero Fist!" I shot across the room in an instant and destroyed the Bakemon, but not before he let out a deafening scream for help. Bakemon poured into the hut and attacked.

"Dark Claw!" It felt like hundreds of claws ripping against me, but I knew it was far less. The pain was incredible; it felt as if I was being torn apart, piece by piece.

"Devibomb!!!" The pain stopped and I could feel the pain shoot to my heart. It skipped a beat and time stopped. I looked around at the Bakemon. All of them were preparing to attack; they wouldn't get the chance. I closed my eyes and the blast tore out of me. Data exploded throughout the room as my attack bounced off the walls, blowing it all back to me. I focused and absorbed the data. It had been at least twenty, seasoned, champion-level, Bakemon. I opened my eyes and looked around. Everything was blown against the walls from my attack. More interesting was what the absorbed data had done. A moment ago I had thick gashes across me that would have been fatal, but the data had healed them. I heard a loud stomping and the door crashed open, breaking my chain of thought.

"What is going on in here? Where are the guards?" Myotismon growled sinisterly at me. I was healed now; I felt no reason to fear him anymore. He couldn't even get guards strong enough to handle me. I patted my chest and smirked; he understood. "Fool! Crimson..."

"Stop!" A deep, booming voice resonated from behind Myotismon, making him halt in mid-**strike.**

"But my liege!" Myotismon lowered his arm and stepped aside. The smirk quickly faded from my face and I kneeled. There in the doorway stood Daemon himself. "He..."

"Silence! Insolent fool." Daemon passed by Myotismon and stopped in front of me. "So, you're the James I have heard about. Do you know who I am?" I nodded slowly.

"You are Daemon, king of darkness." Daemon laughed.

"Poor boy, I AM darkness. King is a title for those who have power given to them, such as Myotismon here. Isn't that right?" Myotismon grumbled in agreement. "I see you kneel to me. Why?" I looked up at Daemon. A chill ran down my spine.

"I will kneel to any whom I know I can not defeat, but to no one else." Myotismon glared at me. I didn't care though anymore.

"You don't believe that you can beat my general here?" Daemon made a gesture towards Myotismon.

"Did I kneel to him when he walked in here?" I was getting cocky and forgetting that I was talking with evil incarnate.

"Ha ha! I like you kid, you have much potential. I can tell you don't fear me, but honor me. Do you truly believe you are more powerful than he?" Daemon was in a good mood and didn't seem to have a bad disposition. I was a bit puzzled.

"Of course." Myotismon was shaking with anger by now. "He tries to rule with fear, but fear can only go so far. Eventually, you must show true power to attain what you wish." Daemon rose up a bit.

"Hmmm. I have noticed something about you." Daemon began to leave the building. I followed. Myotismon was restraining himself for the sake of his own life. To attack me now would surely bring out Daemon's wrath. I noticed it was the middle of the night as we went outside. "As you may well know, I command vast armies in order to rule both this world. However, it can be very cumbersome to try and command them all myself." Ogremon and Bakemon seemed to split like water before Daemon as he meandered through them. I followed closely in his wake as he spoke to me. "Therefore, I rely on my generals. Each of them is the master of his own form of darkness, attaining the titles of kings. Myotismon for example is the King of the Undead. He is not my only general though." Daemon stopped and turned around. We were now standing in the middle of a raised stone platform that the Ogremon had been building out of stone they had brought with them in our journey through the gate. "I rely on two other 'kings' as well. My second general is the King of Distortion; Blackwargreymon. I acquired him by personally reconfiguring him after he was destroyed by Myotismon. Right now he is conquering the Network Islands and the continent of Driver in the digital world. I would have him conquering Server, but Myotismon took control of it more quickly than expected."

"So what does this have to do with me?" I looked up at Daemon, who had begun to float above the center of the stone platform, between two pillars that reached to nothing.

"Like I said, each of my generals commands a form of darkness. Myotismon harnesses the power of the undead, commanding them to his will. Blackwargreymon's very existence warps time and space. I have noticed that my personal minions, the Memoriamon, have been attracted to you. They have possessed you, attacked you, but to no avail. Since you have turned evil, they have continued to try to feed on the darkness in your heart, only to find that they are effortlessly controlled by you, wiped of their physical form and returned to the pure dark energy that they are. You, James, are the King of Nightmares." I breathed deep.

"What?"

"You rule the Memoriamon, the physical creations of the pain, fears, and sorrow of the worlds. By ruling them, you rule the darkest thoughts of those that they were spawned from. Try it. Focus on that Ogremon sleeping over there." An Ogremon was leaning against the stone platform, sleeping. I turned back to Daemon. "Try it. Just focus upon him the way you do when you use your Devibomb attack." I turned back and looked at the Ogremon. I closed my eyes and focused. I could feel dark energy swarming around me, and then around the Ogremon. I could feel his thoughts. I opened my eyes and looked. Sure enough, a cloud of dark energy was surrounding the Ogremon. I smiled darkly. He was fidgeting in his sleep, tossing and turning. Suddenly he woke up breathing heavily. He looked about to see if anybody had noticed and leaned back against the platform. "Do you believe me now? You hold incredible power. I want you to be my third general." Pride swept over me. Me, James, a King of Darkness.

"I thought you said you already had three kings though." I looked up at Daemon with restored confidence.

"Yes, Lucemon, the King of Corruption. He seems to have been permanently incapacitated. During his last defeat, much of his data was separated from his main code and rewritten to help rebuild the digital world. The remaining data is not enough to reconfigure him. That is why I need you. Do you accept my offer? Will you be my general?" Daemon looked down on me. There was distortion around him now, as dark energy emanated from him.

"Where do I begin?"

* * *

Daemon had led me to the back of the encampment where he had dozens of objects strewn about. They ranged from a steel bar similar to the one I had attack Myotismon with, to guns, to a tank.

"I have been closely monitoring Myotismon's training of you. Soon you will know when I am watching as he does, but not yet. Before you lay various weapons. Your greatest power that I have seen is the one that Myotismon has neglected completely. You can transfer your power to anything and everything. However, for practicality, I have only selected a few inanimate objects. Pick up the rod." I did as Daemon said and picked up the steel bar. "Now let your energy flow into as if it were a part of you." I did as he said and it worked, easily. Dark energy surrounded the steel bar. "That was simple, was it not?" I nodded. "Go ahead and try it. Hit that rock." A large boulder sat in the middle of the clearing. I ran up to it whacked it as hard as I could. I blew apart, sending rocks, dust, and powder everywhere. A shockwave rippled through the ground in circles from where the boulder had been.

"Am I really that powerful?" I looked in amazement at my work.

"Far more than that; pick up the gun." A regular, ho-hum pistol lied in the grass. I picked it up and looked at it. It had an eight round clip, fully loaded; nothing special. "Do the same with the gun, however, realized that there are more pieces to it. When you focus, you will be able to feel every part of it and manipulate it as if you are it and it is you." I did as he said and focused. He was right. I felt like I had acquired new body parts. I could change every part of the gun. "Focus hard on the bullet. Send your energy into it and aim at the target in the distance." I let my energy flow into the bullet and looked as the gun began to glow darkly; it felt hot. I pulled the trigger and watched. A dark wave of energy blasted out and blew the entire archery target apart. The shot kept going and into a tree, completely splitting it in three: stump and two halves. The bullet continued through a few more trees before it stopped. I smiled.

"I assume that the Tank is the same?" I looked at the tank. By modern standards, it was extremely weak. It was an old Sherman tank from the Second World War; 75mm cannon and all.

"You learn quickly. Hop in." I opened the top and climbed in. The inside of the tank was nothing like the outside however. It had been fitted with various computers and targeting systems. It was also changed to be operated by just one person. "You can also control data itself. You can merge your mind with the programming and the machinery of the tank itself. Aim around." I focused and held onto the controls. I could feel every part of the tank. I aimed the turret around and into the sky. I expected the next part. "Aim at the city. See that tall building in the distance? Aim just above it. You must realize that just because it leaves your direct contact, doesn't mean it leaves your influence. Set off the shell directly above that tower."

"Won't that draw people to our position?" I hadn't really thought of it. Why hadn't anybody noticed the encampment yet? It stood out like a sore thumb.

"No. Thanks to a little work by Myotismon, this camp and everything in it is camouflaged by a data field. To outsiders, things look just like normal. Now, don't worry about things such as that again." Daemon's voice lowered. "Don't ever question my orders. Rebellion will lead to your immediate defeat." I shook a little at this sudden change in attitude but brushed it off. I aimed above the skyscraper and focused. The energy flowed into the shell. I found that it was much easier to force more energy into it than in the bullet; larger the object, more energy it can hold. I fired and focused harder. I could feel the shell as it flew through the air. I could change my perspective as if I was looking from it. I looked down and focused harder as it flew over the tower. The shell detonated and everything went silent. Suddenly, a sonic boom tore through the camp. I jumped out of the tank and look at the tower I had fired upon. The explosion was huge, but didn't seem to do anything to the tower, even though it spread through the top ten floors of it.

"Why is nothing happening?"

"That was a false shell. Only you and I can see it. I designed it so that it would not cause any damage, no matter how much you charged it. It was only for learning purposes. Finally, realize what the Memoriamon are. They are the creations of pure despair, fear, hate, pain in general. You have much pain in your heart. You can use this and your own energy to create Memoriamon. However, in the long run, they will be of little help. Remember the Bakemon you absorbed?"

"Yeah."

"Search within yourself. Find the data of a single Bakemon you destroyed. Take this data and mix it with your pain and your energy. Bring it out from within you, and watch." I closed my eyes and thought. I could see the data that formed me. It was like floating in space, watching clusters of data fly round one central, massive, sphere of data; my own. I looked in the clusters and could tell what was what. I took one cluster and focused. I could feel hatred rise up within me. I forced my energy, anger, and the data together and out of me. I opened my eyes and breathed heavily. It was like an endurance trial to do that. I looked above me as the data materialized. A Bakemon formed from it and he looked down at me.

"You... you reconfigured me." It was the Bakemon who had taunted me. "Master..." The Bakemon lowered himself below me and leaned over, as if he were kneeling.

"Any digimon or being you create will be linked in servitude to you, so long as you will it. It is possible to break this link, but I see no use for it." Daemon looked down at the Bakemon, who still 'kneeled' to me. I was a king. I laughed. I could actually fell my hatred now; it was exhilarating.

"Is that all... my liege?" I looked up at Daemon.

"Almost. You are now a king, you need signify it." Daemon lowered and grabbed my shoulders. A wave of dark energy swept through me. I shook violently. It was amazing; the power of Daemon himself was sweeping though me. He let go of my shoulders and lifted up. "There. Return to the building I found you in. If Myotismon gives you any trouble, give him a taste of your power." Daemon laughed and moved back towards the camp. What had Daemon done to me? I looked myself over and realized what he had done. I still wore the same black jeans, but my tennis shoes were now black and blue, instead of grey and white. I wore armor that covered my shoulders and my body down to about my waist. Instead of the black t-shirt I had wore before, I wore a long sleeve shirt with open cuffs at the end instead of the usual ones that close tightly around your wrists. My gloves were the same, and I now had a new pair of shades on. I took them off and looked at them; they were the same ones the digimon emperor had. I squeezed and caused them to break apart into data. I wanted no resemblance to that weakling. I would just attain my own shades. I thought of what Daemon had said. "You can also control data yourself." I ran back towards the building. I stopped as I exited the clearing though; I wonder...

I focused energy into my legs and ran again. Dark energy waved off behind me, but I was running much faster now. I could manipulate anything. I jumped as I ran and screeched into the air, narrowly missing branches of the spaced out trees. I went a few yards before I landed. I continued running towards the building, now moving through the crowd of Ogremon and Bakemon. They parted before me as I came and I reached the building in no time. I opened the door and walked in. There was no light at all, but I could see perfectly. I looked down and saw my massacred shades lying about. I focused and the glass shards and frame flew to my open, waiting hand. I focused harder and felt them melt into nothing, and back together as my shades; good as new. I dropped to my knees. I was exhausted from working so much energy.

"Get to sleep; you will need it for tomorrow." Daemon stood in the open doorway. I had forgotten to close it.

"Why?" I turned around and looked at Daemon.

"Because tomorrow I return to the digital world to continue my campaign there with Blackwargreymon. Meanwhile, you and Myotismon will begin the invasion of this world by first taking control of this city, then Japan. After that, you are to spread in whatever direction you see fit. You may be an evil king now James, but you are still human nonetheless."

"Yes my liege." He left and closed the door. I turned to my mat on the floor. I decided that an evil king deserves something more comfortable. I grabbed it and focused. A few moments later, a full fledged bed sat in the building. I took off my armor, revealing the black shirt beneath it. I took off my shoes and lied down with everything else still on. I fell asleep almost immediately.

(---) (---) (---)

"Justin! Wake up!" I rolled my little brother as he floated in the pool. I checked for a pulse; nothing. I picked him up with unknown strength and ran out of the pool and into my house. I placed him on the couch, grabbed the phone, and dialed 911.

"This is 911 dispatch. What is your emergency?" Tears ran rapidly and freely down my face.

"My little brother is dying!!! He drowned in our pool! Please..." The memory began to get hazy, as if I was watching it in a pool of water. I could no longer hear it.

(---) (---) (---)

I sat up quickly, breathing heavily. However, instead of feeling the usual fear I had after nightmares, I felt anger. I could feel dark energy swarming around me. I realized what was happening and breathed deeply, bringing the energy back under control. I opened my eyes and looked. Myotismon stood in a corner of the room.

"How could you be a general? How could he consider you an equal to me?" Myotismon advanced upon me as I sat up in the bed. "You are just a pathetic human! I am the one who showed you your powers! You belong to me!" Myotismon reached out quickly and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. "Give them to me!" He shook me violently... and set me off.

"Zero Fist!" I slammed Myotismon in the stomach, sending him reeling. "I belong to no one! There is not a being in the universe that is powerful enough to ever control me! I follow Daemon because I choose to, unlike your weak ass. Zero Fist!" I punched him again, this time in the face. He fell against the wall and slid down it. I shouldn't have been able to fight him off so easily, but he hadn't expected me to be so powerful already. "Now get out of here. Don't you have an army to lead?" Myotismon was shaking with rage. He stormed out of the building. I simply smirked and laughed quietly to myself. Myotismon was like a spoiled child, unable to comprehend why he shouldn't have everything. I put on my shoes, and then donned my armor. I walked to a mirror hanging on the wall and looked at myself, but only notice my eyes. They had lost their hazel color, replaced by a slate grey. I chuckled a little to myself and put my shades on. I stepped outside and looked about. The entire army was mobilized. Everybody was in formation, except for one Bakemon; the one I had reconfigured.

"I am awaiting your orders Master James." Master James, it had a nice ring to it. He probably should have been using my last name, but I decided it didn't sound as well as my first name. 'Master Walls' just didn't roll of the tongue as well. I didn't need or want to have the burden of having to command anybody right now though, I was still getting used to my powers. I closed my eyes and focused. Suddenly, I felt a slight tingling sensation and opened my eyes. The Bakemon was shaking himself and looked around. He looked at me and quickly flew to the rest of the Bakemon. I had learned to break control.

"All divisions!" Myotismon stood in front of his military. "Forward march!" I watched as the massive army of Ogremon marched by me. I turned an began to march alongside them.

Our attack had begun. Our first target: Odaiba. Then onward to Tokyo. After that, all of Japan. Finally, Earth.


	20. Ch 17: Courageous or Stupid?

**Chapter 17: Courageous or Stupid?**

"Destroy every human you find! Absorb all the data you can! Leave no one alive!" Myotismon shouted orders to the marching digimon army as they neared the city. People on the sidewalks stared for a moment as we came into sight, but soon began to panic and run. The army broke its march and began running full speed. A minute later, the wave of green, black, and white spilled into the city streets from the park the camp was located in on the east side of the city. People ran and screamed as the Ogremon attacked the crowds, breaking people into data effortlessly and absorbing them just as fast. It was a massacre.

I reached the street and noticed how many people were escaping into buildings without pursuit; unacceptable. I ran up to one building and smashed through the doors, which had been hastily barred with an office desk. The desk was thrown back and I walked inside. A man quickly ran up to me from the edge of the room, where dozens of people cowered against the walls.

"Are you okay son?" The man looked me over and decided I was fine. He turned around and ran over to the desk I had blown away, now on the other side of the room. "Quick, help me bar the door again!" I stayed where I was. "Well?" Finally, I walked up to the man.

"Why would I want to do that?" The man's eyes grew wide. "Zero Fist!" I punched the man, slamming him against the wall, making a crater in it. People turned away and screamed. I didn't understand why they didn't simply run up the stairwell on the far left side of the room. The man fell off the wall and crumpled on the floor. He was still alive, but barely.

"Please stop! Don't hurt him!" A little girl ran up to the man. "Don't hurt my daddy!" I pulled back my arm to attack, but hesitated. Tears ran down the child's eyes. I couldn't bring myself to do it; I just couldn't kill an innocent child while looking her in the face. So, I turned around, held both my arms out to my sides, and closed my eyes.

"Dark Storm!!!" Bolts of energy shot from my palms and jumped from person to person, flying about the room. I heard no screams or yells, only the sound of the bolts striking each person. They came back, carrying all the data from the people, the room emptied of all life except me. I walked over to the stairwell and pulled on the door—locked. I yanked a little harder and it popped open. More people were hiding on the next floor; they had forsaken the others in fear.. "That wasn't nice to sacrifice all of your 'friends' like that. You need to be taught a lesson. Dark Storm!!!" Each floor was the same. I would reach it, find people in various rooms and would take their data without looking at them, but it became easier for me to stand with each floor. Finally, I reached the last office. In it, there was only a little boy, playing with a toy car. It must have been the office of one of his parents.

"Are you the man that mommy said was going to come and get me?" The child stopped rolling the car and looked at me innocently.

"Sure am. Zero Fist!" My conscious bothered me no longer. I absorbed the boy's data and left the building. As I stepped outside, I looked around again. The tail end of the force was entering the city, looking for people still remaining. "Break into the buildings! There are hordes of survivors hiding within!" Two Ogremon heeded me and broke through a door. I could hear screams from inside. Other digimon began to follow my advice. I smiled and began to move on to other targets, but something caught my eye. I looked up in the sky and thought I saw something pink flying around. I laughed and moved on. The pink thing flew off quickly to the inner city.

* * *

"Oh my God." Jennifer looked at the army of Ogremon stampeding down the street. They were about a mile away now. Everybody was there and ready. Each digimon stood by their partner ready to digivolve at a moment's notice. Jennifer, Joey, Chris, Agumon, Kristen, and Tentomon all stood up front, with the 02' digidestined behind them, and the original digidestined in the back. Tai and Izzy stood behind everybody. "Everybody ready?" There was a shouting of agreement. "Then let's do this! Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to... Kazemon!" The light cleared, but Jennifer's digivice continued to glow pink. "Kazemon digivolve to Arashimon!" The others followed suit.

"Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to... Kumamon!"

"Agumon digivolve to... Greymon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to... Kabuterimon!"

"We'll stay back here ready if you guys need help!" TK yelled to the six, already headed to the Ogremon, who were now within firing distance. Arashimon took first shot.

"Fujita Cannon!" The blast charged up and fired, tearing through a dozen Ogremon before stopping. Data flew everywhere. "How many of these guys are there!" Ogremon began to tackle and pound on Arashimon.

"Blizzard Blaster!" Kumamon scattered shots on the digimon dog-piling on Arashimon.

"Nova Blast!" Greymon blew apart some Bakemon who were chasing a woman, swinging her purse about trying to get them away.

"Electro Shocker!" Kabuterimon fired into the middle of the Ogremon from above, sending a wave of electricity through it. As the fight raged on, Ogremon and Bakemon in the back began to spread through the streets.

"Come on Greymon! We can't let them through!" Chris shouted at his partner, who was pushing back on some Ogremon between Nova Blasts.

"There are too many of them!" Greymon struggled against the mob, as clubs beat against his face. Arashimon and Kumamon fired another volley of wind, energy, and snow into the Bakemon. Data showered the street.

"Don't give up! We have to stop them here!" Suddenly, a dozen Bakemon came from the buildings behind Chris, flying straight at the others, who were waiting for the word. Ogremon began to spill past the Americans, going down other streets.

"Come on guys! They can't do it alone!" Tai called out to his friends. "Let's show them how it's done!"

"Gabumon digivolve to... Garurumon!"

"Biyomon digivolve to... Birdramon!"

"Palmon digivolve to... Togemon!"

"Gomamon digivolve to... Ikakumon!"

"Patamon digivolve to... Angemon!"

"Gatomon digivolve to... Angewomon!"

"Veemon digivolve to... Xveemon!"

"Hawkmon digivolve to... Aquilamon!"

"Armadillomon digivolve to... Ankylomon!"

"Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!"

"Everybody split up two or three to a street! We have to try and cover as many as possible!" Izzy shouted out battle plans as the Ogremon began to move in. The digidestined were beginning to become surrounded, trying to fight off the digimon at the street intersections. Ikakumon and Togemon one street, Xveemon and Stingmon another, Armadillomon and Aquilamon on the next one, Garurumon and Birdramon on one of the streets behind everybody else, and finally Angemon and Angewomon flying about wherever they were needed most. Tai and Izzy ran up to help Chris and the others, who were becoming exhausted. Arashimon was firing blindly into the mob, no longer trying to hit any one digimon in particular; it was devastating, but still not enough. Kabuterimon and Greymon had paired up to try and just stay in the fight. Kumamon stood behind them, steadily firing snowballs into the Bakemon trying to fly past.

"Come on Greymon! Show em' who's boss!" Chris cheered on his partner as he took another club to the chest. His knees buckled a moment before he attacked again.

"Calm down Chris! Can't you see he's exhausted!?" Kristen yelled at Chris as she dragged debris out from nearby buildings to make a roadblock.

"Hey, don't yell at me for having the guts to fight against these odds!" Chris yelled back at Kristen as Tai and Izzy began to help her with the roadblock.

"There is a difference between being brave and being stupid Chris." Tai stopped what he was doing looked at Chris. "Courage is fighting when you truly believe you will win, no matter what others think. It's putting aside your fears to accomplish what they would stop. Fighting a fight you _know_ you'll lose isn't brave, it's idiotic." Tai dragged a bench into the street. Kabuterimon was thrown back by a Bakemon and landed behind them. He devolved back to Tentomon and moaned.

"There is just too many of them! I'm sorry I couldn't fight harder Kristen." Kristen ran up to her injured digimon.

"Don't worry about it. If we lose here we can always retreat and regroup. You fought as hard as you could and that is all that matters!" Kristen helped Tentomon to his feet.

"Retreat!?" Chris had turned around at hearing this, ignoring the beating Greymon was taking. "We can't retreat! If we retreat they will just chase us down and take the whole city! We have to make our stand here!" The attack subsided a little; the Ogremon and Bakemon had stopped coming down the street and only the ones still remaining were to be dealt with. "See! We've already beat them! And you wanted to retreat." Chris sneered at Kristen and ran up to Greymon, who was still firing Nova Blasts.

"Nova Blast! Chris, get back! It's too dangerous!" Greymon turned his head a little, seeing Chris running up to him. Meanwhile, an Ogremon jumped on him, knocking him down.

"Don't be afraid for me or yourself Greymon! We can take anything!" Chris walked leisurely around as Kumamon shot down a Bakemon who flew towards him.

"Chris get back here! Don't put yourself in danger like that! You'll make him...!" Tai began to yell at Chris but was cut off by Arashimon.

"Look!" She landed. The attack had stopped. Data showered the street from destroyed Ogremon and Bakemon. There were still many left, but they had stopped coming down the street, going to the streets a block or more down, where the others were still busy fighting. Instead, just two creatures came walking slowly down the street. Arashimon fell to her knees and breathed heavily, exhausted from fighting. Everybody else looked up and dropped what they were doing, ready to fight harder.

"Oh now, don't mind me. I'm only here for a minute. I'd prefer to pay a visit to your neighbors on the other street. I still have a score to settle with those damned angels you know." Myotismon laughed and walked off, leaving me standing in the street before an exhausted Arashimon, battered Greymon, and bruised Kumamon.

"James! Please, don't make us fight." Arashimon slowly stood up, her armor rattling. "Myotismon is controlling you, you have to see that!" I laughed at Arashimon and took a few more steps closer.

"Myotismon is controlling ME? Oh no Jennifer, I am controlling Myotismon if anything. You see, I am the more powerful of us." I continued walking as Arashimon prepared to attack. "What's wrong? Don't trust me anymore? I can see why, heh. No Jennifer, nobody is controlling me. This is all of my free will. I have the power now that I've always wanted, needed." Arashimon aimed. "Go ahead, fire on me. You think you can stop me just because you've become an Ultimate? You wouldn't be able to scratch me at full power, let alone in the sad state you are in now."

"FUJITA CANNON!!!" Arashimon let loose and the shot came tearing at me, low to the street, tearing up asphalt as it went. I held out my hand and focused. The attack slowed and came to a stop in front of me. "What, but... that's impossible!" Arashimon took a step back, shocked that I had stopped her attack. The blast broke into data and I lowered my hand.

"My turn."

"Get out of there Arashimon!" Izzy yelled at her as Tai hauled everybody else into a building. Greymon stood outside though, refusing to devolve. Kumamon argued with Tai as well.

"But I'm not done fighting! Lemme at him! If we can work together, we can get him back to normal!" Kumamon struggled against Tai as he shoved him into the building.

"Zero Fist!" I sprinted forward and jumped up at Arashimon, who had took to the air to dodge me, but wasn't fast enough. I hit her square in her breastplate, which bent inward from my attack. She flew back and smashed into the street. A few moments later, she devolved. Everybody stared in shock from inside. Kumamon fought wildly against Tai who pinned him to the floor.

"We can't do anything to that! We have to get out of here!" Tai looked over at the elevators. "Can you still digivolve Tentomon?"

"Wait!" Chris turned on Tai. "What about Jennifer!? We can't just leave her here!"

"If we go out there we'll be killed! She's on her own now!" Tai screamed at Chris, only half confident in what he was saying.

"Coward." Chris shot Tai a disgusted look and ran outside. Greymon struggled to his feet as Chris ran out towards Jennifer. I was standing over her by this time, adding insult to injury..

"You are even more beautiful devolved." Jennifer spat on me. "Now that wasn't necessary. I hoped maybe you would give me a kiss before I absorbed your data, but I guess not. Don't worry; I'll be sure to reconfigure you as a servant. It won't be so bad."

"Jennifer, Heads up!" Chris ran by and grabbed Jennifer's arm, pulling her out of the hole. He led her into another building across the street and turned to face me. "If Matt can take you, I can." He balled up his fists and charged at me. I easily dodged his blows.

"That was a fluke. Zero Fist!" I grabbed hold of Chris' arm and jabbed him in the gut. He would have flown back, but I held tightly to attack again. "Zero Fist!" He screamed in pain. "Mr. Courage's bravery leads to his death. Interesting."

"Nova Blast!" Greymon fired on my back, but I focused and destroyed the ball of flame without turning or lifting a hand to it. "Chris! Don't worry! If you can take the pain, I can too!" Chris' digivice glowed brightly; the Crest of Courage showing brilliantly.

"Damnit." I threw Chris to the ground and he gladly stayed there, struggling to breathe.

"Greymon digivolve to... Metalgreymon!" Metalgreymon towered over me and looked down, growling. "Giga Blaster!" The armor on his chest opened up and two large missiles flew at me. I held up both hands and focused, stopping the missiles and destroying them, but only barely. He opened up fire again a moment later. "Giga Blaster!" The missiles hit this time, as I was still reeling from the last two. I was thrown back, but landed on my feet.

"You'll pay for that." I threw off my shades and held out my arms. "Dark Storm!" The bolts shot out and hit Metalgreymon, jumping off him and back into him over and over. He howled in pain.

"Stop it!" Tai had run up behind me and slugged me across the back of my head. I spun around and he punched me again. As he pummeled into me, the bolts of energy stopped and came back. Normally I would have absorbed them, but Tai was in the way, so he was hit. He screamed in pain.

"Izzy! Get them out of here! We'll take care of the rest!" Matt tackled me off of Tai, who had run in to help from the neighboring street. Metalgreymon had devolved to Koromon and was carried off by Chris, who was supported by Kumamon. They ran to the elevators of the building and went up, planning to fly away on Kabuterimon's back. Jennifer was up and leaning in the doorway, watching in horror. Matt rolled me over and pinned me to the ground, holding my arms behind my back like he was a cop. "James, snap out of it! You have to fight off the Memoriamon!"

"Let go of me!" I struggled against Matt, as he pressed down harder.

"I went through the same thing as you. They feed on the darkness of your heart and overwhelm you! I was lucky I broke free. You have to fight off the fear they live on." Jennifer walked up and looked down.

"You have no idea what I've been through!" I screamed and struggled harder.

"Yes I do, you just have to believe me! Jennifer, help me!" Matt was beginning to get tired, fast."

"Then why is TK still here?" I stopped squirming and spoke calmly, coldly. I could hear Ogremon raging about all around the city streets around the one we were on. The others had finally been beaten back and were retreating. Matt had run to deliver the news to everybody, reaching us last. He was taken aback by this question.

"Why is TK still here? If you've been through what I have then explain to me where you got the strength to defend your little brother." I shifted my head to the side so I could look him in the face. Jennifer gasped at the sight of my slate grey eyes.

"I wasn't strong enough. He defended himself when I couldn't. Hell, he saved me more than I saved him." Matt stared at me, hoping the 'brutal' truth would convert me, but it didn't—not by a long shot.

"Oh yeah? Well imagine if he couldn't defend himself. Imagine if you were the one that always had to fight, and always lose. Imagine that you were taken from your parents and wasn't strong enough to defend yourself from the world, let alone your little brother. Imagine if one day you finally lost one too many fights and lost the war."

"What are you talking about!?" Matt had pushed himself up, but still pinned me to the ground.

"I wasn't strong enough to save my brother. You want to know why I'm doing this, why I fight? I want power. I want enough power so that I won't ever fail again. I want power to change what happened that day and on every other day. I want power to change the world; make the world; destroy the world. AND I'LL DO ANYTHING TO GET THAT POWER, EVEN IF IT MEANS LOSING MY SOUL TO THIS PAIN FOREVER!!!" I screamed and jumped up, throwing Matt back a few yards. "ZERO FIST!!!" I ran up and hit Matt in the chest, hearing bones break. He tried to scream, but no sound came out. The entire street seemed to go silent; the sound of my attack could be heard across the city.

"James! Please don't!" Jennifer ran up to me, but I kicked her away. Kabuterimon began to fly down.

"ZERO FIST!!!" I slammed Matt again, nearly shattering his face. He bled all over my gloves and fell unconscious. Kabuterimon flew down in a strafe, close enough for Izzy to pick up Jennifer. Kristen rode up front, hanging onto Kabuterimon's head.

"Matt! Get up!" Izzy yelled at his friend.

"FEEL MY PAIN, MY SORROW... MY NIGHTMARE!!! ZERO FIST!!!" I punched Matt one last time, and he broke into data.

"NO!!!" Izzy screamed from the digimon, as he flew up from his second strafe, no longer able to pick up Matt, obviously.

"JAMES, STOP!!!" Kristen yelled from the back of her partner.

"We can't help him anymore." Jennifer muttered as tears flowed from her eyes, watching me absorb Matt's data. "We have to get out of here. We have to get out of town." Kristen rubbed her eyes and pulled on Kabuterimon's head, signaling him to pull up.

"Hold... on." Kabuterimon flew up at a steep incline and leveled out about a thousand feet from the ground. Everybody looked around. There were thousands of Ogremon and Bakemon, flowing through the city. They destroyed, killed, and absorbed the data of every living thing in their path. At the center of it stood Myotismon, his whip rolled in his hand. He was a bit roughed up, but looked like he was in a victorious mood. "He didn't..." Jennifer turned to Izzy.

"No, but he fought them off. Kristen, take us that way." Izzy pointed to a spec in the distant sky: Aquilamon." Kristen merely nodded and Kabuterimon flew in the direction Izzy had pointed. As they flew off, I stood in the street, still empty and torn apart from the fighting. I was breathing heavily and looked around. I picked up my shades and put them back on. Down the street I noticed a music store with the display window shattered. I walked up to it and went inside. In a case stood an acoustic guitar, polished to mirror status.

"Hmmm, I didn't know how to play before." I opened the case and took down the guitar. "But I do now, heh." I strummed it and tuned it a bit to my liking. "Thanks Matt, I always wanted to play the guitar." I laughed a little more and walked out of the store.

* * *

"I don't see how they beat you before Myotismon. Either you are weaker than you seem, or they caught you off guard." I was playing the tune to a song I liked, my shades sitting next to me on the ledge of the building. I sat on the edge, mumbling lyrics here and there as I went along. "...holding on is harder than it seems..." The sun was setting as we stood on top of a skyscraper, looking at the digimon army, still ravaging the city. The digidestined were long gone.

"The angels are more powerful than you think they are. You haven't faced anything yet James."

"And yet I've already destroyed one digidestined and nearly killed the others? I don't think it gets much harder." I continued to play the guitar as I spoke.

"What?" Myotismon turned to me. "Who did you destroy; whose data do you have?" I tapped the guitar and Myotismon laughed. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"That I'm the lead singer of a band?" I let out a low chuckle.

"No, that there is one less Mega for us to worry about." I stopped playing and turned to look at Myotismon. "You took him out before he could revive his virtue. If much more time had passed, we may have had to fight Metalgarurumon. That can't happen now." I smiled, turned away, and started playing again.

"I haven't been evil for a month, but have already done more than any other dark digimon has been able to ever do. This is including thousands of years that you all have been in the digital world. Why is that? Oh yeah, I'm more powerful than..."

"Shut up." Myotismon didn't allow me to finish that sentence. "Don't be arrogant. You are able to do this because we showed you how to do this." Myotismon turned around and headed to the stairwell.

"Where are you going?" I stopped playing again and looked at the sunset.

"I'm going to check on the captains about the status of the troops. We lost quite a few against them." He opened the door but stopped and turned his head back to me. "Do you plan to go back to the battle tonight? When I last checked we were still fighting of the stragglers at the police stations. Those pistols are more powerful against us than we had expected." Digimon hadn't had much contact with human firearms.

"No, I plan to sit here for the rest of the night. I'm making my headquarters in this building."

"Headquarters of what? You have no troops!" Myotismon yelled at me.

"Then I'll make some." I stopped playing for a moment and focused a sphere of dark energy in the palm of my glove.

"Who would be your captains?" Myotismon asked, intrigued at my plans.

"I don't know. Maybe I could reconfigure the digidestined I kill and bring them to our cause. Anybody I make is a slave to me." I reabsorbed the orb and played again. Myotismon laughed and walked down the stairwell, closing the door behind me. I started playing a different tune.

"In the end... it doesn't even matter..."


	21. Ch 18: Seven Nation Army

**Chapter 18: Seven Nation Army**

It was easily the darkest day in digidestined history. Tears flew freely and anger raged against the walls of the shelter. Izzy and Tai had been the ones to deliver the news of Matt's death. Everybody's emotions ran out into the open air of the high school gym, leaking over to other refugees. They were in a shelter in Tokyo, made for survivors of the Odaiba attack. There was little noise other than crying from inside. TK and Gabumon took it the hardest, as would be expected. TK lost all sense of his surroundings and Gabumon devolved until he could no longer comprehend anything as a baby, but he wasn't able to stay in that form for very long—his age simply wouldn't permit it. Chris tried his best to pull the digidestined together, but it was useless.

"So what do we do now?" Kristen looked gloomily around. Only Izzy seemed to be paying any attention, but even it was half-hearted.

"I don't know. You saw what he was able to do." Izzy referred to me. "Nobody, not even the most evil of digimon has ever done such a thing." Izzy stared at the gym floor, speaking shakily.

"Maybe he'll just be like Kouichi! Maybe he'll just turn up in a hospital and be okay!" Joey came up with various ideas. "Remember? Lucemon killed him but he was okay in the hospital!"

"Joey, Kouichi was always in the hospital. It's complicated, but there is no way that Matt could be there." Izzy balled up his fists, hating himself for what he was saying. "We... just have to accept that Matt is dead and... move on." Izzy shook with anger. They spoke no more, restoring the silence, broken only by sudden sobs from the people in the room.

* * *

An old man wearing thick glasses, a black suit, and a tie, walked into the large room carrying a black, leather briefcase. Another man followed him, dressed almost identically. One might mistake the second man to be a mere carbon copy of the first, however, he carried no briefcase. Behind these two, was a woman, only half composed. She walked slowly behind the two men in shock, not looking around and the hundreds of varying faces from around the world. The two Japanese men sat down at their desk and guided the woman to a third chair, given up by a neighboring ambassador from Australia. Kofi Annan stood up and looked at the two Japanese ambassadors.

"I am sorry to break usual procedure, but I feel that recent events call for the introduction of personal feelings." Murmurs made their way about. The Secretary-General spoke louder. "What is the situation in Odaiba, Japan, ambassador?"

"Sir," The ambassador cleared his throat and opened his briefcase. He pulled out a few papers and moved it out of the way so it wouldn't obscure his sight, "As of May 12, 2004, we have met forces previously unknown to mankind." The ambassador spoke in his strongest voice into the microphone. "We as a species have strove to discover intelligent life in the far reaches of the universe, hoping to make peace and begin a new age of brilliance. However, it seems that this 'intelligent life' has found us first, and does not wish for peace." Looks were exchanged around the room, particularly between American and British ambassadors, already thinking of how to prepare their response, understanding completely what the situation was. The Japanese ambassador cleared his throat again. "These species have laid siege to the city of Odaiba, Japan. In their attack, they have killed ninety-five percent of the population of the city, which was caught completely unawares." More murmurs and glances. "Not only this, but according to witnesses, the style of attack brought on by these creatures allowed them break down their victims to the atomic level and absorb the remnants."

"How... many witnesses are there?" Annan shakily spoke to the ambassador.

"A small handful of civilian refugees have been relocated to shelters in Tokyo. Armed police maintained a defense against the forces at their headquarters long enough for an airlift to be brought in and evacuate some of them; however those not taken in the first airlift are now presumed dead. Contact with the station has since been lost and reconnaissance informs us that it has been overrun. All refugees are currently being held in a high school in Tokyo. Most of these survivors were too shaken in order to speak, but we were able to locate one who was willing to come. Permission to allow her to speak?"

"Granted. Speak into the microphone ma'am and please state your name." The woman told the General Assembly her name and forced herself to calm down.

"Ma'am, could you please explain what happened in Odaiba?"

"Well, I was working downtown at my office. I had just stepped out for lunch when I could hear screams coming from the east side of town." The woman took a deep breath. "A few moments later, hundreds of green... things came running down the streets, killing and 'absorbing' every living thing they came too. Over them flew what looked like ghosts. I turned around to run, but behind us, another group of monsters appeared, along with a bunch of kids. The creatures changed and got bigger and began to fight the green things and ghosts. I thought I heard them call each other something, but I'm not sure. The monsters with the kids killed the other monsters the way the other monsters had killed the people." The woman began to talk faster and in circles, trying to explain to the official looking people what had happened.

"Ma'am, calm down." The woman did as Annan said, took a few deep breaths, and drank from a glass of water that all the ambassadors, speakers, and guests had. "What else happened? Can you remember what they called each other?"

"I don't remember what they called each other, but I remember what the kids called each other. I remember hearing names like 'Chris' and 'Tai'." Annon looked at the Japanese ambassador to ask him, but he was already ahead of him. The ambassador gave orders to find any survivors with the names in question.

"Were there any others?"

"Yes, but I don't remember them." The woman looked down in disappointment.

"Where were you while this was happening?"

"I was inside a store on the corner behind where they fought. I looked outside from behind the blinds. I wanted to know whether I was safe."

"Were you?" The woman gulped and began to continue her story.

"Eventually the kids split up as well as the monsters with them to fight in more than one place. After a while, the monsters stopped attacking the kids I was near, the ones who had started fighting initially. Instead, a very tall man, he may have been a monster, and a teenager stood talking with the kids for a moment. The tall man walked off down the street and the teenager attacked. He defeated the monsters with the kids and began to attack them. One young man came up and fought the teen so that the others could escape. They ran inside a building a few stories tall and flew off the roof."

"Flew?"

"One of the monsters with them could fly, he was just large enough to carry most of the kids. After a while, the flying monster came back to get the kids still fighting the teenager, but..." The woman took a deep breath. "...the teenager killed the young man who had come to save the kids before the flying monster could pick him up. The remaining kids flew off while the teenager absorbed the young man. After that, the green things and ghosts just went everywhere. There were thousands.

"How did you escape?" Annon asked his final question.

"I got on the roof and was able to flag down a helicopter that was flying from the police headquarters. It got low enough for me to get in and flew off. The police in the helicopter shot down the ghosts that followed us with their pistols. It didn't kill the ghosts, but deterred them long enough for us to get away."

"Thank you ma'am, you may be excused." The second Japanese ambassador led her out of the room. When she was gone, Annon spoke again.

"We have heard the situation and must make a decision. I suggest that we send troops to stop this threat before it claims anymore lives. According to the witness you just heard, as well as from statistical data that the Japanese ambassador has been kind enough to share, we know that our weapons are effective against these... creatures. Are there any nations willing to volunteer to this cause?"

"The United States ambassador to the United Nations General Assembly volunteers the American armed forces for this task." Before the Secretary-General could thank the ambassador, others stood up.

"As does Great Britain."

"China is ready to help our Asian neighbors in need."

"Germany will help fight this cause to ensure the peace and safety of the world."

"Russia will muster whatever force it can to combat this newfound evil."

"Canada will bring what it can to fight in any way it can."

"France will be more than willing to stop this evil before it can do more harm." The ambassadors from the seven nations stood tall and Annon looked around before speaking.

"Thank you ambassadors, however I believe that we should find and make contact with the children that the witness has identified before making any sudden moves. When they are found, the Security Council will meet and make our plans for attack." The Secretary-General began to open his mouth again but the British ambassador cut him off, sending another round of murmurs into full swing.

"Sir, from the accounts heard today, I do not believe that our current time frame will allow any waiting. We must move now in order to ensure that Tokyo does not fall to the same fate as Odaiba." The other six nations nodded. "I highly suggest that this coalition moves into position and attacks now. The advice of children will be of little use in a war operation of this magnitude." Annon breathed heavily, worn from the events of the day.

"So be it. The Security Council is to meet now and make plans for the attack. Adjourned."

* * *

I sat in the middle of the large room, computers circled around me. Myotismon and a dozen or so Bakemon floated around the computers watching. I had my eyes closed with my hand on the monitor of one computer. After a few moments Myotismon began to become impatient.

"Well? Is there anything?"

"Shhh... wait a moment. There are a lot of security features to break through." A few moments passed and I opened my eyes. "They are planning to attack."

"How big will it be?" Myotismon panicked slightly. He had brought more than enough forces to annihilate the digidestined, but he wasn't prepared quite yet for all out war.

"It is a coalition of seven nations." Myotismon began to breathe slightly faster. Only I noticed. I had begun to pay very close attention to Myotismon's movements. "Chinese, German, Russian, and French forces will attack from the west, coming from the mainland; American, British, and Canadian forces from the sea to the east." I waited another moment and opened my eyes a little wider. "It's a... pretty big force... already en route."

"How big? Tell me! How much time do we have!?" Myotismon slammed his fist on the monitor of one computer, accidentally sending a wave of energy through it and shocking me.

"Hold on! And don't hit the computers!" I took a deep breath. "Get me a data projector or something." A couple of Bakemon flew off and brought one in and aimed it at the wall. I hooked it up to the computer I was using and turned it on. I displayed satellite photos on the wall. "As you can see the land force from the west will be slightly larger than ours, however the force from the east may not even send land troops unless the western forces call for them."

"Why?" I focused a little and brought up a picture of the fleet, speeding through the Pacific.

"Because they will be busily launching missiles, bombs, artillery; the whole works at us from the waters. If they do land, it won't be until late in the attack."

"What do we do?" Myotismon stared at the photo of the fleet without blinking.

"Send our entire force to combat troops from the west. I can take care of the fleet." Myotismon looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"Excuse me?" I took a deep breath and brought up a video.

"As you can see the current leader of the United States is a little trigger happy when it comes to cruise missiles." A picture of a missile slamming into a palace in Baghdad appeared. "All of these are what you call "Smart Weapons", weapons controlled by computers and satellites in order for pinpoint accuracy. They could hit a hair dead center from a thousand miles away. However, that is the flaw that I plan to use against them. Those ships will never come close to Japan." Myotismon realized what I was talking about and laughed uneasily.

"Do you believe that we can take the western force?"

"Absolutely. Lure them into Odaiba and ambush them, simple as that. Keep the Bakemon ready for air-to-air engagements and unleash unholy hell."

"What about your 'friends'?" Myotismon taunted me.

"They won't come."

"What makes you so sure?"

"There have been transmissions between Tokyo and New York asking for them, by name. They won't be in Japan when it all goes down. And besides, even if they were, I think they are still in shock from the last battle." I laughed and stood up. "That's it; we have forty-eight hours. Get the forces out of sight now so that we won't have to worry about aircraft from the enemy bombarding the buildings we fortify." Myotismon smiled sinisterly and motioned to the Bakemon. They left the building and went to the captains of the Ogremon, leaving me in the tall office building; my headquarters. Myotismon was becoming more and more reliant on me, something I would have to remember to exploit later on...

* * *

"Taichi Kamiya!" The soldier called out Tai's name. "Chris Rennebaum!" He looked up from a piece of paper and looked around, seeing the kids and their digimon. "You, which one of you goes by Tai!?" The soldier shouted at the still mourning digidestined, inconsiderate of what how they felt. Chris got up and stretched for a moment, just waking up from catching a few much needed Z's..

"He's Tai and I'm Chris. What do you need them for?" Chris stood between the soldier and the others.

"You are all coming with me." The solider looked over the digimon, who were crying just as hard as their partners. The soldier shifted about uneasily. "It is a matter of urgent international security."

"International security? What do you mean?"

"You have been summoned to speak with the United Nations Security Council in New York." The soldier began to ease up. "I am sorry for any losses you may have had in Odaiba, but you must understand the importance of your coming with me. Please gather your things and follow me." Chris enlisted Jennifer, Cody, and Agumon; the four went around helping everybody get their things and they left the shelter, to a convoy of SUV's sitting outside the high school.

"We're going back to New York?" Mimi spoke through a sniffle. "What about Izzy and Kristen?"

"We're right here." Kristen walked slowly with Izzy leaning on her, a complete emotional mess. Kristen simply looked at the concrete sidewalk with her eyes half open. "We have some bad news."

"What?" Mimi turned to Kristen as she walked, half-carrying Izzy. "What's wrong with him!? Izzy? Are you okay?"

"Careful, he's nauseous. There aren't any survivors." Kristen spoke quickly and looked away, suppressing her own emotions for the sake of everybody else, now piling into the SUVs.

"What do you mean 'no survivors'?" Mimi whispered to Kristen and she whispered back.

"I mean that everybody who made it out of Odaiba alive is inside that high school. So if their parents aren't in there then..." Mimi gasped and shook a little.

"Oh no. Are you sure?" Mimi watched Kristen nod slowly. "How... how do we tell them? Is that why Izzy is...?" Mimi didn't have to finish the sentence, Kristen nodded. The soldier at the door of a third SUV called to them.

"We need to go, now!" The soldier shouted and stood straight up; more emotionless than the first soldier had been. Mimi and Kristen ran to the SUV and got inside. The soldier closed the door and got in the front passenger seat, another soldier at the wheel. They pulled off towards the airport.

* * *

Twenty-Four Hours Later

* * *

"That is all we know." Normally, they would have been laughed at, but since the digimon were in the real world, the Security Council was willing to believe anything. Each digidestined had been interrogated by the council individually, forced to give their entire story. Finally, the entire group had been asked various questions about the digital world, digimon, and Myotismon. News of my 'treason', as the Security Council had called it, also leaked out. Chris sat front and center of the long table, with the digidestined lined up in seats. Their digimon partners stood in the center of the room as if they were on display.

"Thank you, you are excused." The head of the Security Council spoke to the digidestined while he shuffled through some papers. The digidestined began to file slowly out of the room, except for Kristen.

"Is that all sir?" The man looked up at her and looked back down.

"Yes, that is all." He paid her little attention.

"Wait a minute!" She sat back down and leaned into the microphone and shouted, hurting the ears of everybody in the room. Now with the man's attention she continued. "What do you plan to do? We need to get back to Japan!"

"Young lady, calm down. I am sorry, but you can not go back to Japan. We admire your valiant efforts to stop this on your own, but this business is out of your league." Every digidestined forgot about their last fight, Matt, what they were up against, and turned towards the man. Kristen spoke everybody's thoughts.

"Sir, I don't think you know what kind of business this is."

"Now listen here..."

"No you listen!" Kristen jumped up out of the chair and shouted. "I may not have fought against something like this yet but they have!" Kristen motioned to the original digidestined. "They have been through more than you could possibly imagine! This 'business' is out of _your_ league sir! Now what is it you are planning to do!?" A few moments passed and the man took off his glasses and wiped them. He put them back on and looked at Kristen.

"A coalition force of seven nations, not including Japanese defense forces stationed in Tokyo, is currently heading to intervene." Kristen's jaw dropped.

"Call them back."

"What?"

"Call them back! They'll all be killed! You have no idea what you are up against!"

"These men are trained for combat much more vicious than what you all have explained to me. They are the best on this planet and are more than capable of dealing with the task at hand." The digidestined stared at the man for a moment. Simultaneously, like it had been rehearsed, the group all turned and ran out of the room. The Security Council shouted after them, bringing guards to them. The digimon followed their partners out of the room.

"Come back here! Where are you going?"

"Where are we going?" Joey looked up at Kristen as she shot a deadly glance at two guards who had planned to stop her. They moved out of the way and let her by.

"I don't care how many troops or how well trained they are, they will be massacred if they attack." Kristen wasn't really speaking back to Joey, but to the entire crew. "We have to get back to Japan and stop them, or at least help if we can!"

"But how are we going to get to Japan? We have no money, no passports, and I don't think our digimon can fly that far!" Izzy caught up with Kristen. Jennifer retorted, somewhat insulted.

"If I can carry Sora across to the other side of the world, then I'm sure that Birdramon can do that and then some." Jennifer looked up at Biyomon, who was flying in front of her, over Sora's head. Sora looked up at her partner.

"Are you up to it?" Biyomon nodded and flew faster.

"I'll have us there in no time!"

"Then it's settled. Let's go." Everybody burst out of the front glass doors of the UN building and pulled out their digivices. A wave of energy and light flew about the front of the building as the digimon digivolved. A moment later, Birdramon, Kabuterimon, Aquilamon, Angemon, Angewomon, Kazemon, and Stingmon took off, with their partners as well as the others on their backs, limbs, and in any other way they could carry them. People looked, pointed, and took photos as they shot into the horizon with a hurry they had never had before. They had just a few hours to get across the world to Japan, or it would be too late for thousands of soldiers.

* * *

"Sir, five minutes until target acquisition." The seaman looked at the numbers on his screen.

"Excellent." The general walked around the room, looking over the shoulders of his men.

"Sir, we're in... what the? Sir, come here quick!" The seaman pushed himself back from the screen. The numbers began to become distorted, the picture on the monitor breaking and rolling.

"What is it? A technical difficulty?" The general looked around at the other screens, all facing the same problem.

"Sir... there is a message." The general looked back at the screen.

"How is this happening!? What is going on!? What is that?"

"Read sir: 'Attention Coalition Forces...'"

* * *

I sat on the beach with the laptop in my lap, focusing intensely as I typed. I could see the ships now, specs on the horizon. I spoke along as I typed.

"Attention Coalition Forces, this will be your only warning. This world is hereby claimed by me, James Walls, in the name of the Demon Corps. Stand down now and perhaps I will show you leniency. You have one minute to comply and turn your ships around." I looked up and waited. Instead of turning around, an ultimatum shot fired into the sky. If they wanted to die, it was their choice. I looked back down and began to type again. "So be it. I hope you enjoy being data." I focused as hard as I could and closed my eyes. My consciousness went with the charge. The ships weren't connected to the rest of the world's computers or to the internet; however they still relied on data. This data could be accessed through the digital world, no matter whether it was being used or not. I could see them: missiles, bombs, nuclear weapons, everything. The ships were loaded to bear. "Boom." I spoke and focused for just an instant, setting them off.

The explosion was huge. Clouds of fire and smoke ricocheted off of each other as every explosive on the ships went off simultaneously. I laughed hysterically and stared at the distorted mushroom cloud. Normally I would have become blind and deaf, but being evil has its perks. I focused harder and drew the data towards me. Thousands upon thousands of people, all killed instantly, only to become part of me and add to my power. The ships had been vaporized into pieces smaller than the data that made up the men. I held out my hands and accepted it gladly. It took about fifteen minutes to absorb it all, I mean one aircraft carrier holds many thousands of men and there had been three in the fleet. Not to mention the various AGEIS cruisers, destroyers, and battleships. When I was done, I took a deep breath and laughed. I felt a little dizzy, like I was about to float away. Power surged through me along with pain. Now that the fleet was taken care of, it was time for the other side of the island. Before I had left, I had destroyed a Devidramon, just for this occasion. I reconfigured it and it crouched down to me, allowing me to climb aboard.

"Let's go." With a beat of his wings he took off towards Odaiba. We didn't get far though before I felt something. I turned around and looked behind us. In the distance were seven objects, moving at high speeds towards me. I looked harder and realized who it was: the digidestined.

"Stop, wait here." I looked and chuckled to myself. "They're dumber than I thought. Well then boy, let's give them a dogfight. Sound good to you?" I looked down at the head of the Devidramon as he growled and roared in agreement. "Calm now, let them come to us. They will meet doom soon enough."


	22. Ch 19: Honor's End

**Chapter 19: Honor's End**

The digidestined were flying as fast as they could when they saw the ships in the distance.

"Look! There they are!" Cody called out from the back of Aquilamon. Still only specs on the horizon, the ships stood out against the blue of the sky and the sea. A few moments later, the flying digimon stopped and the ones riding on them turned around.

"Cover your eyes and ears!" Gabumon threw himself down on Kabuterimon's back and covered his ears with his paws. Everybody turned quickly as a flash appeared in the middle of the ships. Explosions rocked the skies and seas, sending tumultuous waves rocking outwards from ground zero. The flying digimon struggled to keep in the air as the shockwave from the explosions reached them. They were out of range, but were still hit hard. After a few minutes the bright light faded and only a muffled roar remained. Everybody opened their eyes and looked in shock.

"What happened!? Is everybody okay?" Chris called out from one of Birdramon's talons. "Where are the ships!?"

"They're gone... he destroyed them." Angewomon spoke coldly in disbelief. "We have to hurry!"

"Who destroyed them? What happened?" Kari looked up at Angewomon, who was holding onto her. Angemon answered for her.

"James accessed the ships through their data in the digital world. He set off all the explosives." This statement knocked the wind out of Jennifer as she stared at the settling smoke.

"He can do... this?"

"Yes, and if we don't hurry he may do it to other forces headed to Japan." Angemon began to fly towards their destination again; the others followed. Kristen was still confused though.

"What do you mean he accessed them through the Digital World?" Kabuterimon answered her as he flew.

"Every bit of data created by the computers in this world is stored in the digital world. It either becomes the land, digimon, or just floats about as unused data. If somebody had enough power and skill, they could hack into any and every system in the world, regardless of whatever defenses it had." As they all came close, they thought they saw something floating in the air. Cody held his hand over his eyes and squinted.

"What is that?" Stingmon was the first to see it clearly.

"Get ready everybody! This is it!"

"Gomamon, can you digivolve?" Birdramon spoke to the digimon sitting on her head."

"I'm way ahead of you! Joe, a little help!?"

"Ready when you are!" Joe pulled out his digivice and held it out. It glowed brightly and Gomamon digivolved as he jumped into the waters below, still rocking from the explosions.

"Gomamon digivolve to... Ikkakumon!" He rose from the waves and looked up. "Everybody get down here! Now!"

"What's going on?" Joey looked around, a tint of fear in his voice. Kazemon flew down to Ikkakumon and put him down on the large digimon.

"Get to the coast as soon as you can!" Everybody dismounted the flying digmon, expecting me to rush them, but I continued to wait over the beach. Once the ill-equipped digidestined were safely on Ikkakumon's back, the flying digimon came at me, all at once. They attacked as soon as they came into range.

"Meteor Wing!"

"Hand of Fate!"

"Celestial Arrow!"

"Electro Shocker!"

"Hurricane Wind!"

"Grand Horn!"

"Spiking Strike!"

"Is that all?" I focused and charged energy into the Devidramon, taking control of him. I flew about, holding on tightly as I was thrown about, dodging the attacks. Myotismon was right; the angels were annoying. The Celestial Arrow hit the top of the armor over my shoulder, knocked it off, and singed me. The wound left behind glowed with light and burned intensely. I withheld a shout and focused harder. I thought I felt my hands slip as I gripped ever harder onto the Devidramon. "You'll pay for that." The Devidramon and I shouted simultaneously. "Crimson Claw!" We launched at Angewomon, but missed. Devidramon whirled around, trying again to hit her before she could react, but she was just too fast.

"Angemon help!" She flew all around Devidramon and me, steadily dodging our attack. I felt like I was slipping again. It was weird; I still had a perfectly strong grip on Devidramon. Angemon fired on us as we floated in the same spot in the air, only turning about trying to get revenge on Angewomon. The other digimon flew between us and the other digidestined, who were now landing on the beach.

"Hand of Fate!" The shot hit dead on. It blew clear through the Devidramon, piercing through just beneath where I sat. As we fell out of the sky, I could feel Devidramon's data break slightly. Not completely, but just enough for me to lose my grip. I was falling through the data when it merged back together. I attempted to gasp for air, but to no avail. I felt a crushing sensation for a moment before things began to lose texture. I couldn't see, but everything felt like it was melting around me. The angels backed off, watching the spectacle as the data of Devidramon and I merged. I was finally able to let out a scream as I hit the water. I sank down.

"They beat him?" Tai looked out at the water where I had splashed. The angels floated above the sight. "We won!" Tai shouted and threw his hands in the air in celebration at my 'death' while the others looked on skeptically.

"Wait! What's that!?" Cody yelled out over Tai and pointed out to where I had fallen into the ocean. The waters rocked violently as I flew out of the water and attacked.

"Zero Fist!" I crushed into a surprised Angewomon and quickly turned about in the air to deal with Angemon, however, he was already set to fight again. Jennifer stared with the utmost horror from the beach at sight of my new form, surrounded by a volley of gasps and 'Oh my god's.

"Hand of Fate!" The beam shot at me, but I refused to dodge it.

"Zero Fist!" I hit the shot and blazed clear through it, hitting Angemon in the chest. Angemon was sent reeling, crashing into the sands of the beach a few hundred feet away. I finally looked myself over while the digidestined and digimon on the beach looked in horror.

Devidramon's data had fused into me, changing my appearance and physiology completely. I was about a foot taller now and my dark brown hair was longer; still in the same Caesar style cut, but long enough so that it reached down my neck behind me and to my eyes in the front. A pair of wings projected from my back that looked just like Devidramon's, as well as a smaller pair sticking out of each of my legs, just above the ankles, piercing through my jeans. My armor had become larger as well, with loose pieces extending down from my waist, where they were attached to my upper armor, protecting my legs Roman style. I still had black jeans, a black long sleeve shirt, and my gloves. My shoes were completely black now and my shades were gone—my slate grey eyes made me look evil enough. I looked at the digidestined on the beach and laughed; I had just digivolved.

"Thank you Angemon. This will be very helpful." The angels had gotten back to their feet and now stood between me and the digidestined. The other digimon had digivolved as well for the fight. Kazemon and Greymon had both digivolved to ultimates: Arashimon and Metalgreymon. Gabumon stood helplessly with the digidestined, unable to digivolve without Matt. "Do you really think you can beat me?"

"We don't think, we know." Angemon spoke to me as I hovered in the air. "We've beaten stronger than you James."

"Actually Angemon, I don't think you have. Don't any of you understand yet? I am more powerful than anything you ever have faced or will face. Why do you still fight me? Do you think you can stop me?" I looked at the resenting faces of the digimon and came across Arashimon's face. "Or do you think you can save me?" She looked up.

"What?" She looked me in the eyes, the sound of hope in her voice. I laughed.

"My, somebody is dense. I like what I am, and there isn't anything you can do to make me relinquish this power. My entire life I've been through hell with nothing to show for it until now. I finally have the power to do whatever I want, and if that is to rule the world, then so be it. You won't stand in my way." I flew down at them and they unleashed their attacks. I didn't take the time to dodge them or block them, but just let them hit me. Not even a scratch was left on my armor. I landed on the beach, making all the digimon take a few steps back, unaware of what to do. They talked with themselves while I stood back, unworried about their presence.

"He didn't even flinch!" Metalgreymon looked at me, shaking slightly.

"What do we do?" Kumamon still had his bazooka aimed at me, ready to fire, but was breathing heavily—quickly.

"What can we do?" Cody murmured from behind them.

"What?" Chris turned to Cody. "Are you giving up?"

"No!" Cody shouted at Chris. "But what can we do if we can't even hurt him! It's not giving up, but knowing when to retreat so that we don't die!" I cut in.

"Go ahead and retreat. I won't hold it against your honor." I was instigating Cody.

"What!!?" Cody dashed through the line of digimon. "What did you say?"

"I just know that retreating is for the cowards with no honor in fighting until the end."

"Get back here Cody!" Yolei called out to him from behind the digimon. "Don't let him get to you!" It was too late. Cody was furious.

"I'll show you what honor is!" Cody whipped out his kendo stick and charged at me. I threw up my hand and he fell backwards without me physically hitting him.

"Okay. I accept your challenge." I smirked, held out my hands and focused. A few seconds passed and a steel staff materialized. "Show me what honor is, punk. I'll even go easy on you. If you can hit me once, I'll go away." Cody charged at this idea and tried to hit me. I quickly blocked his every attack, as he moved about, trying different styles and tricks.

"Cody no!" Everybody yelled out to him and tried to reach him, but their partners held them back.

"There isn't anything we can do! If we try to interfere he's a gonner!" Ankylomon watched helplessly as I began to attack back lightly, letting Cody block my attacks as best he could. Cody fought valiantly, but in reality he had no chance. If I focused at all, his stick would shatter and he would too after a few moments.

"You fight well Cody, but there is one major flaw in your technique." I spoke mockingly.

"Is he fighting Cody or training him?" TK spoke without breaking gaze on Cody and I.

"Oh yeah? What's... that?" Cody huffed as he moved about, swinging madly, but purposefully. I jumped into the air and with a flap of my wings blew him over.

"You expect your opponent to fight with the same honor as you!" I focused energy into my staff and dropped towards him. The digidestined ran out to try and save him, but it was too late. My staff pierced him through the chest before he could get up. He was pinned to the ground as it exited his back and hit the ground. He gurgled a bit and grabbed hold of the bar sticking through him. He broke into data and was absorbed into my waiting hand. The digidestined watched in terror as another of their group was destroyed. I finished taking Cody's data and turned to Ankylomon, who now charged at me.

"Don't worry." I flew into the air. "I won't submit you to the same torture as Gabumon."

"I'll never forgive you for this! Tail Hammer!" His tail flailed at me, missing completely.

"Dark Lucent!" I aimed my rod at Ankylomon and dark energy ran down it. A field of energy quickly formed all about it and fired off as a beam. It blew clear through Ankylomon's shell and into the sands of the beach.

"I'm... sorry... Cody..." Ankylomon's legs buckled and he hit the ground. Blood stained the glittering white sands as Ankylomon began to break apart. "I'm... sorry..." He finally broke apart and I absorbed his data through my staff.

"Who's next?" I chuckled and Kristen stared at me.

"How could you?" She and Kabuterimon stepped forward. "How can you kill us off like this? We've only been trying to help you!"

"I told you not to and you attacked me. Is it too complicated for you?" That did it.

"No you don't understand! We tried to figure out what had happened to you at first, but you attacked us! When we came back to try and reason with you, you attacked us again! And when we finally come to try and reconcile with you one last time, you attack us. Don't YOU understand!? We're not your enemies! The only reason you are here is because of the sacrifice you made to save us! You don't have to keep killing yourself like this!" The Crest of Knowledge glowed brightly in her digivice. Kabuterimon flew into the air and began to glow. Izzy pulled out his digivice as well.

"Kabuterimon digivolve to... Megakabuterimon!" The massive bug flew into the sky and aimed down at me, Kristen on his back.

"Horn Buster!" The bolt shot down at me and I flew backwards, out of its way.

"You fool! Dark Luc..."

"Fujita Cannon!"

"Giga Blaster!" The other two ultimates fired on me, forcing me to postpone my attack.

"Everybody get out of here while you can! We'll catch up!" Kristen shouted out from the back of Megakabuterimon.

"Right!" Izzy rallied everybody away from the beach towards Odaiba. However, he couldn't get Gabumon to leave.

"I'm not going."

"But you'll just get in the way."

"You go! I have to do something." He ran towards me as I knocked away the attacks of the three Ultimates. He stood behind me and fired. "Blue Blaster!" The shot hit one of my wings and did nothing. I turned my back to the attacks of the ultimates and let them hit me in the back, also doing nothing.

"Time to meet your maker." I swung at Gabumon and he shattered into data easily. I absorbed it quickly and knocked Metalgreymon away with my staff, who had charged on me. He fell backwards into the sand and devolved. As Koromon lied, knocked out, on the beach, Arashimon flew in and picked him up. The three digimon and Kristen flew off towards the digidestined, giving up the battle. I didn't pursue them. Instead I waited and watched for a few minutes until they disappeared from sight. I landed on the beach and breathed deep. I could feel power resonating through me. I aimed my rod and fired into the ocean to test my power.

"Dark Lucent!" The completely black bolt of energy fired into the water, throwing it up beside it and splitting the ocean for a few miles as if it were the Red Sea. When I stopped, the water crashed down on itself. I pulled out my digivice and looked at it. The screen was static and distorted as dark energy ran through it. I scanned myself and read what it said. "Fuzenmon... Mega." Even my digivice said I was inhuman. I put it in my pocket and laughed until I remembered that Myotismon would be fighting by now. I beat my wings and rocketed into the air. Once up, I flew towards Odaiba, passing over the digidestined as I did.

* * *

"Look!" Joey pointed up as I flew over. "Where is he going?"

"Where we're going: Odaiba." Izzy watched me streak across the sky. "Guys, we need a plan. Usually when we go up against Mega-level digimon we already have reached Mega, or are about to. You guys still haven't all reached ultimate." Izzy motioned to Joey. "And we can't keep losing like this. It isn't like before. Every time we lose, somebody is turned into data. If things keep going this way, we'll all be data before the end of the month."

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Chris turned to Izzy as they walked on slowly.

"We can't attack him." Tai spoke without emotion as he stared at the ground.

"What do you mean?" Kari looked up at her older brother.

"We can't beat him the way we are right now, but I know we can beat Myotismon if we can isolate him. Maybe if we take out Myotismon, James will turn back to normal. But, that's just an idea."

"Well it's the best one we have. Let's do it." Sora was the same was as Tai: emotionless and staring at the ground as she walked.

"Come on guys, we've been in losing situations before! We can't let Cody and Matt down!" Davis tried to cheer everybody up. "It's like you said Izzy, they have been turned into data, not killed! All we have to do is get powerful enough again and get James to release their data! Then they'll be reconfigured and a-okay!"

"Reconfigured... maybe, but what will they be like? No human has ever been 'reconfigured'. How would it work? We can't come from digieggs like other digimon... can we?" Kristen argued with herself until she realized something. "Wait... why are we breaking into data?"

"What do you mean?" Joe looked at Kristen, his hands in his pockets.

"Normally when somebody dies they just... die. But now whenever people are being killed, they are breaking into data." Kristen picked up a rock and threw it at the ground. It broke apart into data. "Everything is turning into data!"

"It must be because the worlds are closer." Izzy balled his fists as an example. "As they get closer, the physics of each world begin to overlap and well... now we are both real and data." He opened his fists and closed his hands together.

"So does that mean nobody is really dead, just turned into data?" Chris looked at Izzy.

"Exactly. If we could just find a way, we might be able to bring back everybody who's been destroyed."

"Where are we going?" Mimi stopped walking.

"Um... I don't know." Chris stopped and looked around. They were in a small patch of woods.

"Odaiba, we're going to Odaiba." Izzy tugged on Chris' arm as he passed him.

"But what good will that do us? If James and Myotismon are together, we don't stand a chance!" Chris yanked his arm away.

"Yeah, but they will be busy with that coalition force. We could attack while they're distracted." Tai kept walking, beginning to get ahead of everybody else.

"Then let's move faster. If we don't get there soon, there won't be a force to distract them." Chris broke into a full run with Joey, Jennifer, and Kristen in tow. The other digidestined watched them run by and ran as well to keep up.


	23. Interlude: Unnecessary Sacrifices

**Interlude: Unnecessary Sacrifices**

The digidestined finally had to give in to physical limitations and take a moment to rest. Their digimon had flown across the ocean and taken a beating across the board from me. As the older digidestined collected some food and water out of a convenience store on the very outskirts of Odaiba, Chris noticed how solemn they looked.

"Hey, Kristen." Chris whispered to the girl as she browsed the salty snacks.

"What?"

"Go get Joey and Kristen and meet me out behind the store, near the bushes." Kristen nodded and Chris quickly snuck out the front door of the store unnoticed. The other three followed soon after with Agumon and Tentomon in tow. Meanwhile, the others tried their best to save face for yet more fighting.

"What's this all about Chris?" Jennifer crossed her arms and leaned against the wall of the store, exhausted.

"You guys... see me as the leader right?" The others nodded, although Kristen showed obvious reluctance. "Well, I think that we need to get these other guys out of here as soon as possible." Jennifer quickly snapped awake and Kristen simply stared at him.

"Why Chris? We wouldn't have gotten this far without them." Agumon looked up at his partner and Chris couldn't help but finally show the guilt he had been hiding.

"They're _dying_ Agumon. They aren't equipped for this fight. They just aren't strong enough anymore to help. This isn't like the fights they had; we're not against a single all powerful digimon. We're against an entire army of powerful digimon led by a digimon they only barely killed and a hybrid that has gone completely insane." Chris sat down and rubbed his eyes. "We can't let them throw their lives away trying to help us anymore. This isn't a fight they can win."

"So they should give up?" Agumon stared at Chris, his wide eyes in shock. "You want them to give up!?"

"No, they'll never give up voluntarily. I don't know how to get them to go..." Chris lowered his head into his hands, hiding himself from view. "Cody was right... it isn't being a coward, it's knowing when you can win and when you can't."

"Wow Chris." Kristen crossed her arms and smiled cockily. "I never thought I'd hear something like that out of you."

"Shut up Kristen, I'm being serious." Chris shot Kristen a dirty look.

"No, I'm serious." Kristen sat down beside him, leaning back a little. "I'm impressed! Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea making you leader after all." Chris smiled and Kristen smiled back, friendly this time.

"Thanks Miss Know-It-All."

"No problemo, Goggle Brain."

"Hey, there you guys are!" Tai rounded the corner after a few moments of silent deliberation over what to do. "Come on, everybody's ready to go!" Jennifer, Kristen, and Joey all looked to Chris for an answer, but he just let out a painful, tired sigh.

"Alright." He climbed to his feet and brushed himself off. "Let's go guys."


	24. Ch 20: Blizzards of Change

**Chapter 20: Blizzards of Change**

"Where are they?" The Chinese lieutenant rode alongside his men as they marched into Odaiba. Following behind were regiments of French, German, and Russian troops. The city seemed deserted as they slowly walked down the streets. "I thought reconnaissance had them crawling all over the place." The soldier looked down the street through a pair of binoculars, looking for any sign of life. As he looked, the radio installed into the jeep cracked to life.

"Bzzzt… Att..on all fo… Co…iti… …eet… …oyed! Rep…t!" The signal was distorted and broken; only garbled sounds could be made out. The lieutenant picked up the receiver and spoke, lowering his binoculars as he did.

"Please repeat that last message."

"Coa… fl..t dest…ed!" The lieutenant was about to ask the person on the other end of the line to repeat again, but the soldier driving the jeep cut him off.

"Sir, look!" The soldier pointed ahead in the road. "Somebody is in the distance!" A human-like figure stood in the street ahead of the steadily marching army. It was cloaked so that it couldn't be identified. The column of troops continued moving until the front man reached the figure. The lieutenant quickly rode up to the front.

"Identify yourself!" The lieutenant stood up in the jeep and shouted at the figure, aggravated at his poor reconnaissance. He had been told that digimon swarmed the city and that all humans had been killed.

"Why have you come?" The figure spoke with a cold, monotone voice, only enraging the lieutenant.

"Answer my question: Who are you and what are you doing here!?" The figure chuckled under his breath. As he raised his hand and snapped his fingers, the lieutenant realized what was happening, but it was too late.

"IT'S A TRAP!!!" At the sound of Myotismon's signal, Bakemon poured through the walls of the buildings beside the troops while Ogremon jumped out of the windows. Myotismon threw off his disguise and attacked the lieutenant.

"Crimson Whip!" The whip cut into the lieutenant's neck, slicing it clear off. It and the rest of the body broke into data, which Myotismon absorbed while he dispatched the driver the same way. The soldiers quickly repositioned themselves, aiming at either the sides of the street, up, or straight ahead at Myotismon. Men poured out of the trucks that they had been transported in as Ogremon landed on them, crushing them beneath their clubs as they landed. Searing bullets flew about, ripping holes in the Ogremon and destroying some before they even hit the ground. However, the shots flew clear through the Bakemon, who began to wipe out as many troops as they could. The troops further back who hadn't yet reached where the attack was taking place broke formation and organized into small squads, moving quickly towards the buildings alongside the road to take cover. Once ready, they opened fire as well. A Russian Major ran up to a French counter-part as his squadron set up behind a bus stop.

"Where the hell is the bombardment?" The Russian's French was broken and sloppy, but the other Major understood enough of it.

"Didn't you hear? The fleet was destroyed!" A Bakemon cut the conversation short, charging through the two troops, ripping off limbs as he went. Meanwhile, Myotismon mocked the troops firing at him as he knocked away bullets with his whip.

"You call that a weapon?" A bullet finally made it past and hit him in the knee. The bullet bounced off, but left a mark. "Ow, the pain, it's unbearable." Myotismon mocked sarcastically. "Let's see you shoot through this! Grizzly Wing!" Myotismon opened his cape and a mass of bats screeched down the street. They bit and tore at the soldiers, disorienting them and throwing the fight into complete chaos. Troops fired into the cloud of winged devils, sending blood and dead bats down onto them. As they were pelted, Myotismon marched through, swinging his whip about and sending troops into those behind them and into the air.

"Am I too late to join?" I landed a few yards behind Myotismon and he turned around, leaning his head slightly to the side. A bullet whizzed by and ricocheted off a streetlight. His eyes widened at my new appearance.

"You… digivolved?" A smirk came across his face. "I assume that the fleet is gone?"

"Completely, as well as a digidestined and two of their partners." Myotismon clapped and led me around a corner so as not to have to worry about stray bullets that the bats didn't block.

"So, what do I call you now?" He leaned against the building for a moment.

"Fuzenmon, or King of Nightmares; either one is fine really." I began to say something else but the sound of motors and clanking metal emerged over the gunshots, screams, and roars. A moment later the corner of the building Myotismon was leaning against blew away, sending him flying into the building on the other side of the street.

"What… was that?" He stood up and glared down the street.

"Tanks." I watched as two tanks rolled through the sea of Ogremon. There were more behind them. "You go and get the rest of the troops and I'll take care of these."

"No, you go, I'll destroy them." Myotismon stepped forward and buckled a little. He grabbed his shoulder, mangled somewhat from the blast. He looked at me for a moment and turned around. "Fine." He broke into a run, bullets flying past him as he ran. I ran out into the street, drew my staff, and opened my wings wide as two shells flew at me.

"You would shoot a child?" I knocked the shells back one at a time with my staff and watched them impact the two lead tanks. The shells drove deep and ignited the fuel inside, blowing the steel contraptions apart. "That isn't very nice." The wreckage now created a roadblock for the tanks behind them, forcing them to go in reverse to the last intersection and take another street. Soldiers on foot dashed past and around the flaming ruin and stopped at the sight of me.

"What are you?" One soldier got the guts to ask me while one beside him wet himself.

"I'm every nightmare you've ever had. Doom's Requiem!" I held up my hand and a cloud spread out from it. It was wispy and billowed over the men as if it were a dust cloud. Suddenly, I could see the thoughts of each soldier as he or she screamed in fear. As the cloud lifted, they all were shaking violently on the ground, stuck in visions of their fears and despair permanently. That is, unless I decided to release them, like that would ever happen. Soldiers coming in from behind them fired over their incapacitated comrades. I blocked the bullets, quickly spinning my staff about. The bullets ricocheted off at various angles, hitting the ground, buildings, or troops that had shot them. Blood splattered on me and I laughed. I marched slowly forward and continued spinning my staff, watching the human troops, as well as the Ogremon, get mowed down. The Bakemon had also begun to be injured and destroyed while they absorbed data, becoming solid as they did so.

* * *

Myotismon ran down the street holding his shoulder, a bit of blood trickling down it. He cursed under his breath as he ran through an intersection. Suddenly, an arrow flew from the side and skimmed his back. He fell forward and growled in pain, turning about to see what had shot him. "You, I guess Fuzenmon didn't get rid of you."

"Apparently not. Celestial Arrow!" Angewomon fired another arrow, but Myotismon quickly jumped out of the way and countered.

"Crimson Whip!" As it came down, a golden staff came down and shattered it. Angemon landed and kicked Myotismon in the chest, sending him back to the ground. Kumamon rolled out from the door of a building and crouched in the street, aiming at Myotismon.

"Blizzard Blaster!" Snowballs hit Myotismon furiously, but did nothing. Myotismon jumped up and reformed his whip, cracking it at Kumamon as he jumped into the air. Kumamon was knocked away and fell on his back.

"Little Brat! Crimson Whip!" As the whip came down Davis ran past and dragged Kumamon out of the way. Myotismon missed completely and dove to the ground to dodge the angels' attacks. When he landed and looked up, Exveemon and Stingmon were looming over him.

"Vee Laser!"

"Stinging Strike!" The two digimon fired on Myotismon, but he simply blocked and rolled out of the way of more attacks from Angewomon. He rolled beneath her and cracked his whip at her, knocking her out of the air. He jumped up and stopped the attacks of the champion digimon altogether as he stood over Angewomon, whipping her again.

"It's about time you had a taste of this." CRACK! "You've been one large thorn in my side ever since you betrayed me." Angemon flew down and tried to knock Myotismon away, but he simply knocked him away with the backswing of his whip. It came down on Angewomon again. She screamed in pain.

"Pick on somebody three times your size!" Metalgreymon stood menacingly down the street. "Giga Blaster!"

"She's not the only chick around here with wings you know!" Arashimon flew down and aimed from the other direction. "Fujita Cannon!" The two shots flew at Myotismon and he jumped up, grabbing hold of Angemon and throwing him down and Angewomon. Instead of hitting Myotismon, the attacks hit Angemon and Angewomon.

"Thank you for finishing the job!" Myotismon landed on the ground in front of the battered and bleeding Angels. TK and Kari ran out of a nearby building towards their partners. Myotismon heard their cries and picked up Angewomon by her hair, holding her in front of the two. They stopped in their tracks. "You all will do as I say." The attack stopped and everybody waited for Myotismon's demands. He felt the pain in his shoulder and back raging; he knew he couldn't keep up the fight.

"What do you want Myotismon." Megakabuterimon shouted at the vampire as he landed on the building behind him. The massive bug had been about to attack a moment before.

"If you all come with me I can guarantee that you will all live, for at least a little while."

"Yeah right, like you're telling the truth." Ken lashed out at Myotismon. "Why should we believe you?"

"Because you don't have a choice." He punched Angewomon in the back and she screamed, breaking apart into data a little, but then coming back together. She was teetering between life and death.

"Yes we do." Tai stepped out from a restaurant behind Myotismon and grabbed hold, jerking Myotismon back and causing him to drop Angewomon. "NOW!!!"

"Fujita Cannon!"

"Giga Blaster!"

"Horn Buster!" The three attacks came at different angles and hit Myotismon and Tai. Tai was thrown back and into the restaurant while Myotismon struggled to hold himself together. He turned around and saw Tai breaking apart and coming back together; he had taken more of the blow than he thought he would. Myotismon quickly ran over and picked him up by the back of his collar. Kumamon ran into the restaurant just in time to see Tai thrown against the side of the building. A memory flashed through Kumamon's head of how Myotismon had done the same thing to him—he could feel the impact of those cold, iron bars again.. Tai broke apart and Myotismon absorbed him, laughing the entire time.

"NO!" Kumamon ripped out his bazooka and fired. "BLIZZARD BLASTER!!!" Snowballs pelted Myotismon to no avail.

"Crimson Whip!" Kumamon ducked as the whip whirled about, sending tables everywhere.

"He risked himself to save us and I won't let you take him like this! Blizzard Blaster!" More snowballs spattered against Myotismon until piles began to obstruct Kumamon's view. His digivice glowed brightly from behind the headband it was held in. Finally, it erupted in blue light as Kumamon aimed again.

"Kumamon digivolve to… Polamon!" Energy from the digivolution sent debris out of the windows and blew against Myotismon, who had cleared the snow bank Kumamon had made. The other digidestined ran in as the light cleared, thinking that Kumamon had been destroyed. Instead, a slightly taller, stockier bear with glittering dark blue fur stood in Kumamon's place. The headband, now black, had lowered slightly and small snippets had been taken out of the bottom to give Polamon's eyes some space. Instead of the picture of a bear, a picture of three ice crystals shined on the black headband. The other garments of clothing were also black. A metal plate was attached to Polamon's back with what looked like pairs of gun barrels attached at odd angles: two pairs aiming up and one pair each aimed down to the left and down to the right. Gears were attached to the bars that held the guns in place. Two daggers were attached to the belt and nearly hung down to the floor; Polamon was taller than Kumamon, but only a little. Myotismon cracked his whip at the digidestined behind Polamon, but the bear out a dagger and cut it. Then he pulled out the other and slashed them in the air.

"Slashing Snowstorm!" Two boomerang shaped blasts of light-blue energy flew at Myotismon, with a mass of freezing wind and snow behind them. They bore into Myotismon and threw him back across the room. Polamon ran up to him while the other digidestined looked for Tai; they didn't know Myotismon had him yet. Polamon caught sight of Myotismon as he pushed himself up from the floor. "Oh no you don't! Hailstorm!" The gears cranked to life and the barrels shifted over Polamon's shoulders and on each side of him, aiming at Myotismon. An incredible barrage of ice flew at Myotismon, pummeling him back into submission. The ice fired at an unbelievable speed as the gears on Polamon's back spun madly. When the attack stopped, Myotismon struggled to push himself up.

"You… still think… you've won?" Myotismon laughed. "If you… kill me he… will die too." Polamon realized he was right. If he destroyed Myotismon and absorbed his data, he would be absorbing Tai's along with it, and he didn't know how to reconfigure things.

"I'm not letting you leave here alive." The gears began to speed up again on Polamon's back.

"How about this, you let me live, and I'll reconfigure that goggle kid for you." Polamon thought about it and agreed. Myotismon pushed himself up and stumbled outside and into the street. Polamon had his guns aimed at Myotismon the entire time.

"Now reconfigure him." Polamon's voice was a little deeper than Kumamon's too. Myotismon grumbled a little and held out his hands facing each other. An orb of data began to form between them.

"It won't do any good. I'll still get my revenge." Everybody else now watched the spectacle. If they didn't know better, they would have thought a digiegg was being created. The orb finished forming and Myotismon hesitated. "You know… I could destroy this data right here, right now."

"You wouldn't dare!" Sora cried out from Birdramon's talon as they flew over Myotismon.

"I think I will." Myotismon began to focus and the orb of data glowed brighter, becoming unstable. Polamon aimed. "Don't shoot or you'll destroy it for me!" Myotismon stopped for a moment. "I think I'm just going to leave you all with this out and ready for me to make use of. Devolve, all of you." Everybody did as he said, unwilling to risk the life of another Digidestined. "Now you stay right where you are while I go get my troops."

"They are already fighting, Myotismon." I flew down and landed behind the vampire. "You never brought them so I had to stop and get them. You haven't the slightest idea of how annoying MIGs can be when you are busy with an entire armor division."

"Fuzenmon! It is good you are here. You can finish them off for me." Myotismon turned around and looked at the digidestined and their partners.

"I don't think so." I spoke coldly.

"Wh… what? What do you mean?" Myotismon was shaken by my sudden change of mood from when he had left me earlier.

"I mean you are a weak, worthless digimon who has to hold data hostage in order to escape from battles you can't win. You're pathetic and I've decided to put your data to better use." I quickly swiped up at the orb containing Tai's data and it shattered. I absorbed it before the data could go anywhere and looked back down at Myotismon. Everybody watched.

"You… you can't do this. I made you what you are! Daemon will kill you for treason!" Myotismon was in full panic now.

"No Myotismon, I made myself what I am. I will decide what to do with my power, not you, not them, not even Daemon himself. I am the jury, judge, and executioner. Zero Fist!" I slammed Myotismon in the gut, but he didn't move, only slowly broke into data. "I find you guilty of dishonorable forms of combat, as well as abusing the little power you had."

"You… traitorous… bastard…" Myotismon choked up his last words as I absorbed his data.

"Damn straight." I breathed deep. "Now, considering you…" I stopped talking and looked up.

"They are mine James." Daemon swooped down towards the digidestined and produced a scythe. Gomamon and Biyomon turned around at the sound of the dark being's voice, only to meet Daemon's attack head on. They broke into data and Daemon sent it at me. I absorbed it without trying, as if it had forced itself into me. The other digimon and digidestined scattered. "I have been waiting for too long for you to destroy Myotismon." Daemon flew after Palmon, Gatomon, and Patamon, disposing of them quickly and forcing their data into me. "I felt I could not trust him to stay with my cause." I watched as Daemon shot across the street, slicing through Joe, Mimi, Sora, TK, and Kari in one swipe as they ran down an ally. I felt like I was about to explode as their data came to me. My senses sharpened, but when I tried to move, I couldn't. Some unknown force held my legs to the ground.

"What's going on!?" I roared at Daemon as chains formed from my own dark energy and bolted me to the street. I flapped my wings and pulled as hard as I could to break the chains, but to no avail.

"I have noticed that each time you absorb one of these children, you inherit their abilities and traits." He flew in front of Exveemon and Stingmon.

"Vee Laser!"

"Stinging Strike!"

"Pathetic." Daemon swiped and destroyed the digimon. More data forced its way into my chest and pain shot through my body. "You have become more and more confident, independent, and ambitious with each level of power you reach; this is unacceptable. I began to lose my trust in you." He swiped again and I watched in horror as Davis and Ken were destroyed. Wait… why did I feel bad about this? "Then you digivolved from merging with that Devidramon." He rocketed down the street and caught Yolei and Hawkmon; more data. Then he turned to Izzy who was holding a long piece of wood.

"Get out of here stupid! You don't stand a chance!" Izzy didn't listen; he tried to attack Daemon and quickly met the same fate as the others.

"But then you finally destroyed Myotismon. True, he was untrustworthy but bound to me no matter how much he hated me." Myotismon turned to Kristen, Joey, Chris, and Jennifer who hid in the restaurant along with Tentomon and Agumon. "You feel you are more powerful than I, and must pay the price. I never really expected to find you as a general, but you had much power, so I scrapped my original plan for you. But since you are too powerful for your own good, I'm returning to plan A." He floated into the restaurant. "Do you remember the King of Corruption?" He turned a corner and out of sight. A few moments later everybody came running full speed out of the restaurant. Jennifer however stopped as she passed me, instead gazing into my eyes. I couldn't stand it—the look bored into me like a drill, but it was so warm…

"Your eyes… they're… brown…"

"RUN!!!" As Daemon flew behind her and began to swipe, she turned around and threw up her hands. Before Daemon attacked, the Crest of Love blasted red light out everywhere.

"Damn crests, I hate them." Daemon's scythe began to come down.

"NO!!!" I ripped forward with waves of black, white, and red energy raging around me, flew up in an instant, and tackled Daemon. It didn't hurt him much, but knocked him away from Jennifer. "GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!" My digivice came to life and glowed a mixture of white and black. Daemon came at me with his scythe. I pulled out my staff and stopped blocked it a few inches from my face. I pressed as hard as I could against it, holding out against the dark god.

"Damn you! What do you think you are doing?" Daemon pressed harder on his scythe. I slipped out from under it and flew into the air, aiming my staff at Daemon.

"I won't let you harm her! Dark Lucent!" The beam tore through the air, but Daemon dodged it. He came at me and we began to fight weapon to weapon. His scythe and my staff clanged against each other as we flew about charging at each other. I finally jabbed him and he flew back, landing on the top of a building. "You are powerful no longer Daemon. It's time to use the evil you created to destroy you once and for all." My voice was booming and my digivice was still shining a sort of negative light. "Dark Lucent!" The beam shot at Daemon as he slowly got up from the roof of the building. He didn't move, but simply held his hand up and stopped the shot in mid air. Something was glowing beneath his robes. He reached his hand in them and produced a digiegg.

"You think you can kill me with that power? James, I am pure evil; only one can match my power and he lays waiting in the digital world." He threw the digiegg at me and it bore into my body, forcing me to absorb it. I fell out of the sky and landed on the building. "I originally planned to use your pain to resurrect Lucemon, but you didn't have quite enough. But now…" He lifted his hand and I floated into the sky. Anguish ripped through my body. I looked down and saw everybody coming towards Daemon, all digivolved to Ultimates. Chris and Kristen rode on Metalgreymon's and Megakabuterimon's backs.

"No… please… get away…" A final surge of power tore through me and I fell to the ground. There was same feeling I had when I merged with Devidramon, only in reverse—I was falling out of it. I landed on the building and felt my arm break. I yelled and held it, but as I did, I realized I wasn't Fuzenmon anymore. I was wearing my khaki shorts and white t-shirt again. My shades were resting on my head, pushed up over my hair which was also short again. I looked up and saw a massive field of data and dark energy rippling in the air.

"Meet the King of Corruption, James: Lucemon." The field collapsed on itself and a massive explosion rocked the area. I was blown off the building and into Polamon, who was standing in the street watching. We all fell back against buildings across the street from the one Daemon was over. When I opened my eyes, I could see Lucemon floating in the air.

"Finally, it is good to be back, Daemon. Thank you. You truly are a wonderful servant."

"Eh?" Daemon laughed. "I believe you have it wrong Lucemon. You are now a servant to me."

"Oh really?" Lucemon flew down at Daemon, but he quickly knocked him into the building. Lucemon crashed though to the first floor of the structure and struggled to get up.

"Your power is diminished Lucemon. You are my general now, and don't forget it. I do not know why the reconfiguration link between us hasn't told you that yet but it doesn't matter." Daemon flew down and picked up the unconscious fallen angel and took off into the sky. A portal opened in the sky and the two flew in.

I thought about getting up, but felt exhausted. Blood trickled down my face and got in my eyes, making it hard to see. My broken arm throbbed in pain. Finally, my vision faded, and I fell unconscious.

* * *

"James? James, can you hear me? Hey! Doctor, come quick, I think he's waking up!" A familiar voice shouted from over me as I rolled my head. "I opened my eyes and saw Kristen leaning over me. A bandage was wrapped around her head and she was in crutches. A dull light lit the room, but I could see clearly. A doctor jogged up and looked at me.

"Hello young man, did you sleep well?" I tried to sit up, but couldn't; it hurt too much. The doctor saw what I was trying to do and held me down. "Don't try to get up, your ribs are broken so you'll be in the bed a while." As my senses slowly came to me, I began to feel the pain. It hurt to breathe as my wrapped chest rose and fell on the broken bones. My arm throbbed and my head felt split open.

"What… where am I?" My voice was hoarse.

"We're in a military hospital. They found us after they won the fight with Myotismon's army." Kristen slowly lowered herself on my bed and got off her crutches.

"Where is everybody else? Where's Jennifer!?" I began to breathe faster, bringing more pain. I winced as I began to panic.

"Calm down son. All of your friends are okay, but they're still unconscious." The doctor was looking at the machines beside me and recording things down on a chart. I calmed down. Jennifer was okay; that was all that mattered. I began to think.

"Um… Kristen. What about…" I began to ask about Tentomon and Agumon, but she cut me off.

"They're just fine, I guess." Kristen sighed a little.

"What do you mean?" I tried to sit up again and fell back down in pain. The doctor glared at me disapprovingly.

"Well, the doctors are having a field day over them. They keep doing X-Rays and other things on them, trying to figure out what makes em' tick, but…" She smiled and laughed a little.

"But… what?"

"Digimon physiology isn't exactly like human physiology. The X-Rays just come back completely white. The data messes them up." She laughed again. "You can imagine all the questions I've been getting."

"So how long have we been here for?" I turned to the doctor.

"It's been four days since we found you. It's amazing how far you all have healed. We thought you all were dead when we found you." I shifted about and realized my digivice wasn't attached to my belt loop like it had been. My eyes widened and Kristen laughed. The doctor realized what I was worried about and reached over to a bedside table. "I swear; you kids get all worked up over these things." He waved the digivice over my head and put it back on the table. It was black and white again. "Well, other than the broken bones and the gash on your head, you're fine." The doctor stood up and I realized he wasn't Japanese.

"Wait… you're American."

"I thought you would never notice." The doctor smiled. "I came with the land force because they would need more doctors than the fleet. I'm glad I did." He walked off and I sighed painfully. I had been the one that destroyed that fleet. I tugged on Kristen's arm and she leaned over.

"You didn't tell him about Fuzenmon, did you?" I felt nervous.

"Shhh, no. Don't say anything about it though. This isn't a very safe place to talk in secret. Just get some rest." She grabbed her crutches and got off the bed. I closed my eyes and relaxed. "Oh, and one more thing." Kristen faced me, leaning on the crutches.

"What?" I didn't open my eyes.

"It's good to have you back James. Don't worry about what you did, it wasn't your fault."

"Thanks Kristen."


	25. Interlude: A Nightmare to Remember

**Interlude: A Nightmare to Remember**

"Heh heh heh…"

"Who's there!?"

"You… you are there."

"What?"

"I am you and you are I."

"Wait… you aren't…"

"Yes, I am. Heh heh heh…"

"What do you want? How are you here?"

"We destroyed them. We destroyed them all."

"No, you destroyed them. I had nothing to do with it."

"But I am you! Can't you see? We are one, whether you like it or not."

"No, I'm not you…"

"Sure you are! We both want the same thing!"

"The hell we do."

"We both want power… power to save those we love…"

"No, I want power to save those I love. You want power to destroy them."

"What better way to save them than send them to heaven? Just think… they won't hurt anymore or anything."

"Then why didn't you kill Jennifer when you had the chance?"

"What?"

"Back in the streets of Odaiba, before you killed Matt, you had Jennifer pinned to the street. You could have killed her right then, but you didn't. You tortured her."

"All's fair in love and war."

"Lust ain't love."

"Then what is it you have?"

"You're a sick, twisted, demented son of a bitch. Now get—out—of—my—head…"

"HA! You won't even admit your feelings for her. The one moment you overpowered me is because of her and you're too proud to admit it."

"Get out of my head…"

"You're slipping James. You're losing your hold."

"Get out of my head…"

"The ghosts of those soldiers and the digidestined will haunt you forever."

"Get out of my head…"

"You can't escape your guilt James. First you killed your brother and now you've killed enough to turn it into a statistic. One is a tragedy but…"

"Get… out… of… MY… HEAD!!!" I sat up squeezing the top of my head. The pounding headache was far worse than the pain in my arm or chest. Sweat poured from my face and my hair was drenched in it. My rapid breathing was restrained against the bandages around my chest and a dull throb followed every breath. Dim lights from the machines attached to me finally stabilized—they had become static and distorted just a few moments before. It wouldn't be the last time they'd act unusually that night.

"Oh God help me…" That was the longest night of my life.


	26. Ch 21: Rise of the Dark God

**Chapter 21: Rise of the Dark God**

The doctors were perplexed at our condition. In the eleven days since they had found us, a week since I had woken up, we had gone from unconscious and bedridden to helping with injured soldiers. We ran errands and checks up on those who weren't hurt too badly, glad that we finally had time off from fighting. They didn't know how we healed so fast, but we did. The digivices were working their charms, but we didn't tell them.

Agumon and Tentomon went about like royalty. Any soldier, doctor, or nurse that saw them stared in awe at the alien creatures, wondering if they could attack like the Ogremon and Bakemon had. One doctor learned that they could when he tried to take a blood sample from Agumon. His face and hair were singed and burnt mildly before the needle could come near Agumon's arm.

Nobody mentioned them, but there were still many problems. Demon and Lucemon had disappeared into the Digital World, carrying the data of all the other digidestined with them. We didn't know what they planned next and the tension could be felt between us. But that didn't bother me nearly as much as my own problems. Nobody would even think to mention Fuzenmon or my previous 'actions'. I finally approached Jennifer about it. She was bringing dinner to a couple of soldiers who had lost limbs in the fighting.

"Hey Jen, can I ask you something?"

"Thank you young lady." The black soldier lying in the bed spoke in a quiet, yet deep and booming voice as he took the cup of water from Jennifer.

"No problem! Yeah James, what is it?" She acknowledged the Frenchman and turned to me.

"Well, could we um… talk in… private?" I thought I could hear the other soldier Jennifer had brought food to laugh a little.

"Sure, that is if you can find anywhere 'private'." I felt an odd mix of nervousness and queasiness at the same time. I noticed the black soldier making a kissing face to the other soldier. He laughed, but stopped short and coughed. I led Jennifer outside and looked around. Green military tents were all over the clearing as men marched between them and vehicles rode by. I walked around behind the medical tent we were in with Jennifer in tow. There wasn't anybody back behind the tent and I decided to talk there.

"Why hasn't anybody said anything?" I looked at Jennifer and her smile lowered a bit.

"What are you talking about?" She was playing stupid and I could tell.

"Why hasn't anybody said anything about me, about Fuzenmon?" I yelled a bit and Jennifer held her finger over her lips.

"Shut up!" She talked to me in a frustrated whisper. "There are people on the other side of this tent!"

"Sorry, but why?" I lowered my voice to a whisper as well.

"Because we know it wasn't your fault James. Daemon had you under his control."

"But what if he didn't!?"

"What do you mean James?" Jennifer was getting nervous.

"I mean I remembered so many things in the past few weeks that I had blocked out and I don't know what's happening to me anymore!" I began to pace about. "I never knew I had bottled up so much hate and when Myotismon finally popped the cork I went berserk!"

"Shhh! Calm down James, just try to forget about it." Jennifer tried her best to calm me down.

"I can't forget about it, that's why I'm talking to you! What if I forget about it again and it all comes pouring out and another ten thousand people die because of it?"

"James…"

"Or what if I can't take remembering it all? What if I go back to being Fuzenmon? I don't want that to happen!"

"It won't as long as you don't want it to!"

"Yes it will! You have no idea what it is like to be afraid of yourself, to be scared that you're going to hurt everybody you care about!"

"James, calm down!" We were both shouting now.

"I mean what if I hurt more soldiers, or hurt the others, or hurt you!?" Silence ensued. I breathed heavily, surprised at what I had said. Jennifer looked at me in half-shock. "I mean… I'm afraid that sooner or later I'm gonna fail again and that you all are going to die because of me."

"James, that won't happen." She spoke very calmly. "I won't let that happen. You're back with us now and we'll do whatever we can to help you." I calmed down and closed my eyes as she continued talking. "You just have let us help you." I opened my eyes and looked into hers. She laughed. "Help me help you."

* * *

"Stupid blood. Kristen, you're smart, tell me, why blood is so hard to mop up?" It was late evening and Chris complained as he mopped around the beds of soldiers where blood had fallen onto the ground.

"Well blood isn't water Chris. It's made up of various different solid cells, as well as plasma, the liquid they are carried in." Chris looked at her confusedly. "Blood is thicker than water." Kristen looked up from the book she was reading. I leaned forward in my bed and looked; it was a technical manual for various military weapons.

"Isn't that restricted reading?" I asked her and she looked over at me.

"It wouldn't have been so easy for me to get if it was."

"Where did you get it?" She turned back to her book and blushed a little.

"Oh, it was just… lying around."

"Lying around where?"

"I found it with the rest of some soldier's things."

"And where did you find them, Kristen?" She closed the book and stared at me.

"It's not like he's going to need it!" I realized what she was talking about; it was from a dying soldier's pack.

"Kristen! You stole that from a dead man?"

"Jeez James, you make it sound like a crime." She opened the book again and continued reading.

"I think it is a crime." Chris looked at Kristen, leaning on the mop he was using.

"Well what do you want me to do with it?" Kristen looked at him. "Or should I just throw it at you for butting in on our conversation?" Kristen yelled at Chris.

_"I like what you've done here…"_ I looked around and shrugged off the voice as just somebody else talking, but it sounded so familiar…

"Hey, don't get mad at me for speaking the… OW!!!" The book hit Chris in the face and landed on his foot. Kristen laughed. I began to laugh, but stopped.

_"So when do we attack?"_

"What?" I spoke out into space and looked around me again. Kristen and Chris looked at me.

"What James?" As Chris looked at me, he went to lean back on his mop after the book attack. It slipped out from under him and Kristen burst out in laughing. Some of the troops in the ward laughed too.

_"Do I have to command anything?"_ The voice didn't want the hassle of keeping up with an entire army, I could tell.

"What is it James?" Kristen looked at me and I held my finger to her, asking for a moment of silence.

"I can hear somebody talking."

_"Good. So long as I get to take the digidestined. I deserve the rest of their data, I mean, since I already have most of them."_

"It's Lucemon." I finally recognized the voice and leaned back. "I can hear what he is saying to somebody." Kristen put her book aside and sat up. Chris got up off the floor and walked over to the end of my bed. I rested back on my pillow and closed my eyes. A hazy picture began to form.

_"What do you mean be careful? I plan on crushing them in one fell swoop."_ I saw Daemon standing in front of 'me'. There was something all around us, but I could only make out Daemon.

"They are more powerful than you think they are and you haven't reached your normal strength yet." Daemon spoke without emotion to his underling.

_"I don't care, they still are just ultimates; you said it yourself."_ I heard a scratchy voice coming from my mouth. Kristen and Chris watched.

"What are you talking about James?" I could hear Kristen, but I couldn't see her. Daemon shrugged. The picture faded and I came back to the medical tent. "What's going on?"

"Daemon… he reconfigured Lucemon from me." I spoke coldly.

"Yeah, we already know that. What does that have to do with anything?" Chris picked his mop back up.

"If a digimon personally reconfigures another creature or digimon, the reconfigured digimon is permanently linked to the person they were reconfigured from."

"What? You lost me." Chris stared blankly.

"Is that good news or bad news?" Kristen looked at me worriedly and I snapped out of my lethargic state.

"Well, I don't rightly know yet."

"How do you know this anyways?" Chris started mopping again.

"Let me put it this way: It's amazing the shizz you learn when you're evil."

* * *

Joey ran around outside as dusk began to creep down on the camp. Jennifer was with him, making sure he didn't get of into trouble.

"You don't have to follow me around Jennifer. I can take care of myself!" Jennifer laughed at Joey. He tried his best to act older than he was, but his childish voice killed any attempts.

"Joey, you're only eight and this is a military camp. I'm sure you'd find a way to hurt yourself. Any little kid would."

"I'm not a little kid!" Thunder boomed from the sky and the two looked up. "Is the sky supposed to look like that?" Dark clouds covered the sky, glowing red from the setting sun on the horizon.

"It's about to rain, come on let's get inside." Jennifer turned around and waved for Joey to follow her, but he didn't.

"I don't think so Jennifer." Joey's voice shook.

"What could come out of the clouds other than rain?" Jennifer knew it was probably a bad question considering all they had been through, but she asked anyway.

"Nothing, as long as you count fire as rain." Red streaks reflected in Joey's eyes and Jennifer looked up.

"Holy Shit!" Jennifer screamed, shocking Joey. He hadn't ever heard her swear. "Chris, James, Kristen; get out here now!" She screamed to the medical tent we were in and we came running out. "Look!" She pointed up and we looked.

"This… isn't good… is it?" Chris stared at the sky, forcing any signs of fear away to keep his courageous persona intact.

"I don't like this." Kristen on the other hand didn't bother. She took a few steps back instinctively towards the tent.

"Ohhh man, this is bad." I stared at the sky.

Small meteors and brimstone fell from rings of fire in the clouds. They began to land on the camp, sending people screaming in all directions and setting tents on fire. The voice came back.

_"Look at them run! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!"_ Lucemon's hysterical laughter rang in my ears.

"We have to get out of here now!" I yelled to Jennifer and Joey, but it was too late. The rings of fire in the sky widened and Daemon's real army attacked. It made Myotismon's force look like a joke.

Every form of Devimon flew down from the sky: Ladydevimon, Marinedevimon, Devimon, Demidevimon, and at the head of them all was Daemon himself. The devils flew down and landed on the now burning environment, killing and destroying anything in sight. We all ran to each other as they landed. Soldiers quickly took arms and tried to fight the devils, but to no avail. The bullets just bounced off the powerful digimon, doing nothing but drawing their attention. A few tanks came up and finally began to effectively fight, but were quickly disposed of by a Ladydevimon.

"Chris! Where are you?" Agumon came out of the burning medical tent with Tentomon not far behind.

"We're over here!" Chris waved to Agumon and a chunk of brimstone landed in front of him, making him jump back. "Whoa!"

"Come on, we have to go!" Tentomon flew over to Kristen.

"No, we have to fight them! We can take em'! Are you with me buddy?" Chris shouted orders as he pulled out his digivice.

"I'm ready when you are!" Agumon took a fighting stance which normally would have made us laugh except for the serious situation. Everybody pulled out their digivice, except me.

"Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!"

"Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kazemon!"

"Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kumamon!" The light cleared and the digimon stood together looking at Chris, Kristen, and I. "Let's whoop some Daemon butt!" Kumamon shouted aloud. I began to cheer in agreement, but felt my heart drop. I looked up and saw him.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm the only one you'll be fighting." Lucemon dropped down and landed in the middle of the circle we had made, roundhouse-kicking all of us away. Everybody landed and quickly got back up, ready to fight.

"Nova Blast!"

"Electro Shocker!"

"Hurricane Wind!"

"Blizzard Blaster!" The shots came towards Lucemon, but never reached him. He blinked and his eyes changed to an eerie color. The attacks stopped and disintegrated.

"I don't see why Daemon worried about you." He dashed forward and slammed into Greymon, sending him backwards into a clump of trees. All of them fell over as the giant dinosaur-like digimon crashed into them.

"So you wanna fight the hard way?" Chris held up his digivice and the Crest of Courage glowed. Everybody else did as well, digivolving to ultimate. Arashimon, Polamon, Megakabuterimon, and Metalgreymon now stood where their champion counterparts had moments ago. I couldn't take it anymore, I felt useless on the sidelines. I ran forward to join the fight, my gloves glowing with dark energy. I didn't notice that though, my only thought was to defeat Lucemon.

"Fujita Cannon!"

"Hailstorm!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Giga Blaster!"

"Please, is that all you have to show me?" Lucemon spun about, reflecting the attacks back at them. Everybody was hit and thrown away. "Are you quite finished? I'd like to go ahead and take your data."

"That won't be happening. Zero Fist!" I threw my fist at Lucemon, who didn't see me coming from behind. He turned around and took the punch straight to the face. It didn't hurt him a lot, but it was about as effective as a regular punch on a regular person.

"Grrr… so the traitor returns. I see you still hold on to your dark powers." He threw his fist back at me and I fell to the ground. He ran up and I kicked him in the chest as I jumped to my feet.

"Shut up. Zero Fist!" I attacked again just as he did. Our attacks met and we were both thrown back.

"What the hell is going on?" He pushed himself up. "How are you so powerful?" He stared at me for a second and gasped. "So that was why Daemon has no power over me."

"I said shut up! Zero Fist!" Lucemon jumped into the air and dodged my attack, throwing a sphere of dark energy at me as he did. It hit dead on and I was driven into the ground. The dust settled and I struggled to get out of the newly formed crater. Brimstone fell towards me and I moved to dodge the small, rock sized chunk. I climbed out of the crater and looked at Lucemon.

"So that is what my 'master' looks like." He laughed.

"Quit babbling." The others had gotten back up and were returning to the fight. The brimstone fell more heavily now as the rings of fire in the sky grew larger.

"You must be incredibly weak. The links formed by reconfiguration give the master of a pair incredible power over their creation, yet I feel nothing from you." Rage built up. Arashimon realized what was happening.

"James, don't let him get to you! We're safe! You don't have to do it!" She aimed and lobbed another shot at Lucemon. "Fujita Cannon!" It arched over me and landed in front of him, sending dirt and dust everywhere. I could feel myself being picked up by Arashimon and lifted into the air. The dust settled and Lucemon looked about. We were flying quickly away, dodging brimstone and fire.

"Damn, they got away. Oh well, at least I know how to dispose of them now." Lucemon looked up into the sky. "Daemon! When are they getting here? They're running late!"

"I know! They should be here any… ah here they come!"

* * *

We flew through the sky, dodging fire and diving Devimon. Hundreds of them flew out of the rings of fire in the burning skies. I fidgeted against Arashimon's grip.

"Why did you make me run? I almost had him!"

"Didn't you feel it? Didn't you see it?"

"Feel what?"

"There was a cloud of dark energy around you! Heck, there still is!" I looked down at myself and realized she was right. Dark energy pulsed through me, but not nearly as strong as it used to. As I noticed it, it went away, leaving me feeling tired. I looked up and saw the rings of fire when it happened.

"I think we need to move faster." I shouted to Arashimon over the wind blowing against us.

"Why?"

"See for yourself." She turned and looked at the rings of fire.

"Ohhh man, this is bad."

"My sentiments exactly." The rings finally collapsed on themselves as a few more chunks of fire came out of them. However, instead of disappearing, one massive ring appeared, a thunderous roar coming from it. The sky lit ablaze as the massive portal stretched across Japan. "Jennifer, did you ever see that last Matrix movie?"

"I wish I hadn't. Megakabuterimon, we've gotta move!" She shouted to the massive bug, where everybody else was hanging from. Metalgreymon had devolved to Koromon so as not to weigh him down.

The roar became deafening as the mass of devil-digimon poured out of the gate by the thousands. They spread out over the land, not stopping for anything but simply attacking drive-by style as they went. It was beyond insanity. In just a matter of minutes the entire remaining military force that we had just been with was wiped out, but we could only see the cloud of digimon swarming over it. We were over the sea now between Japan and Korea. Arashimon flew closer to Megakabuterimon. I looked at the others as they watched, terrified.

"How the hell are we supposed to stop that!?" Chris shouted out over the wind.

"I don't know, but I hope we think of something soon because it won't take them long to finish off Japan." I shouted back over the winds as we approached a large city in South Korea. We flew lower and saw the people in it point and shout at us. Others watched what looked like a black column slamming and spreading into Japan. We landed in the street, Arashimon and Megakabuterimon setting us down and devolving. People stood away from us, somewhat afraid of what we were. We couldn't help but join them in watching Daemon's army destroy Japan.

Finally the portal shut, taking its fiery glow with it, and the islands could no longer be seen.


	27. Ch 22: Digimon Legends

**Chapter 22: Digimon Legends**

"Let's keep moving. I don't think these people like us too much." I looked around at the mob of Koreans who had just seen us fly from a devastated Japan.

"Can't we at least get a night's rest first?" Tentomon whined in a single breath.

"Sorry Tentomon, but we have to keep moving." Kristen kneeled down beside her partner.

"But I'm exhausted! You guys are heavier than you think you are."

"Calm down, we can go by land from here." Chris broke up the argument. "Greymon can help out, right Agumon?" He turned to his partner who looked distressed at the idea.

"I'm sorry Chris, but I'm with Tentomon this time." The lizard laughed nervously.

"Traitor…"

"Chris!" Joey yelled at him for calling Agumon a traitor. "You don't know how tiring it is to be a digimon, so lay off!"

"Please, you can't get through the day as a human without a nap." Chris blew him off and began walking.

"Chris we can't go by land anyways." Kristen pulled him back by the arm. "Ever heard of the 'Korean War'? How far do you think we'll get through North Korea before somebody realizes we don't look oriental?"

"Let's just stay here for a night." Jennifer was standing up, half-awake. "Joey's right, you guys don't know how much energy it takes to digivolve."

"Well where is a hotel?" Joey looked around. "I don't see any around here." I walked up to the crowd, which backed away when I came forward.

"Where's the nearest hotel?" They just stared at me like I was alien. "Oh come on, I'm not that scary am I?"

"There is one a kilometer down that way." A woman pointed down the road.

"Thanks. Did you all hear that?" I yelled back to everybody; they were already walking.

"Yeah James, we're all waiting on you." Chris yelled back without turning around. I ran to catch up.

"You know, it's customary to stay where you are when waiting on somebody."

* * *

"What do you mean you won't give us a room!?" Chris yelled at the clerk behind the counter. We all stood behind him in disappointment. The receptionist replied calmly.

"Sir, I'm sorry but you have no money, no ID or passport; I can't just give away rooms to strangers." I reached in my back pocket and found my wallet.

"I have some ID." I flipped it open the tri-fold and showed him my restricted license. "Do you accept American money?"

"Normally we don't, but I can get it exchanged for you." He took the money I handed him. I knew it wasn't nearly enough for the room I was getting, but he didn't know that. He handed me a keycard. "The elevators are right over there."

"Thanks." I turned around and everybody had left me behind again, already running to the elevators. "Slow down people! I'm the one with the key!"

"What kind of room did you get? Who has to sleep on the floor?" Chris spoke aloud, being obnoxious to the other people around him.

"Check out is ten o'clock tomorrow, but we will be long gone." I ignored Chris.

"Why?" Kristen looked at me, leaning against the wall beside the elevator as we waited for it.

"Because it won't be long before they realize I owe them at least another hundred dollars. We're in a deluxe suite on the eleventh floor." I put my wallet back in my back pocket, the forty dollars from it gone. "I don't want to have to use my debit card." The elevator finally reached the ground floor and we filed in after a crowd of people got out. Nobody else would get in with us, bothered by Agumon's and Tentomon's presence. We let Joey hit the button sending us to the eleventh floor after a short scuffle between him and Chris over it. We reached our floor and walked down the lavish hall.

"What room are we in?" Jennifer looked at the numbers on the doors as we walked down the hall.

"1124… right here." I stopped in front of the door and slipped the keycard in the lock on the door. The light changed to green and I turned the knob. "Christ I hate these things." The door had already locked again and I tried again.

"You're not doing it fast enough." Kristen shoved me out of the way, grabbing the card from me. She slipped it in and out and turned the knob nearly all at once, but the door didn't budge. "What? Open now!" She yanked on the doorknob and Chris pulled her away, taking his turn. He put in the key and waited until the light turned green and then pulled it out. But by the time he was turning the knob, the door had locked.

"Um… yeah let me try that again." The same thing happened.

"You are all slow. Give me that thing." Jennifer ridiculed us and took the key from Chris as he gladly stepped out of the way. "See, you put it in and quickly pull it out, wait for it to turn… red?" The light turned red instead of the usual green. "Hey!" She slammed her fist on the door and we all laughed.

"Here, let me try." Joey took the keycard from Jennifer as he wedged himself between her and the door. He put in the key, waited two seconds, and pulled it out. He turned the knob the moment he pulled it out and the door opened. "See, it isn't like it's hard." We were all stupefied as we walked in the door. When Joey finally turned around and looked at us, he laughed. "You guys should see the look on your faces!" While he laughed at us, we looked at the room.

"I don't think anybody will have to sleep on the floor." I looked around. The first room was like a large upscale living room you'd see Donald Trump or Bill Gates stay in. The lamps in the room set a soft light on the dark red couches, sitting on a polished hardwood floor. Three couches all sat around a coffee table sitting on a detailed oriental rug, facing large open windows over the city of Pusan, South Korea. To our left was an opening to a small kitchen fitted with a full size fridge, sink, stove, oven, microwave, and coffee maker. To our right was the opening to the bedroom with two beds sitting beside each other facing the open side of the room. Next to the opening to the room was a chest of drawers with a television on it. On one end of the bedroom was more windows and the other end had the doorway to the bathroom.

"James, how much do you think this REALLY costs?" Jennifer looked at me nervously. There was a knocking at the door and everybody ran into the other rooms, leaving me to answer the door. Outside a man in a formal business suit stood with the receptionist, who was a cherry red.

"Sir, I am sorry for the inconvenience, but the payment that you bestowed on us is far insufficient for this room." The man spoke with an accent and I struggled to understand him. "My associate here should have exchanged the money properly with you at the counter, but he is still new here so you will have to forgive me."

"So… what do I need to do?" I scratched the back of my head, accidentally knocking of the shades resting on top of them. I quickly bent over, picked them up, and rested them back on the top of my head.

"Well," The man pulled out a clipboard with various numbers on it, "this room costs two hundred American dollars a night; you paid us forty." I reached in my back pocket and pulled out my debit card.

"Will this work?" I showed the man the card and it reflected the light from the hallway.

"So long as it has enough money in the account."

"Hey, I didn't spend my last summer telemarketing for my dad for nothing." The two men laughed. I handed him the card.

"I'll go charge it and have room service bring it back to you." I began to say 'thanks' but he continued. "However, we have many more services here if you would be interested."

"Like what?"

"We have twenty-four hour room service, maid-service, a rental service, as well as our many facilities in the hotel." I thought about it for a moment.

"Does this room have an internet connection?" I asked the man and he quickly responded.

"Yes. If you'd like you may rent a laptop for your stay and use the connection built into the lamp on the table over there."

"Sure, sounds great. Just charge it on the card."

"Thank you. Room service will bring both momentarily." We shook hands and I closed the door.

"Okay kids, you can come out of hiding!" I walked to the couch and plopped down. Everybody came into the room.

"You sure you can afford all this?" Kristen looked at me worriedly as she sat down.

"Didn't you hear me make the bad telemarketing crack?" I asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Wait, you mean you weren't joking?"

"Seven dollars an hour; it sure beats the hell out of McDonalds." Everybody began to argue with me about my 'job' when there was a second knock at the door. I got back up and opened it. A petit woman stood holding a black laptop and my debit card. "Thank you." She smiled and nodded to me, quickly walking away.

"Jesus James! What all did you get?" Chris jumped at the sight of the laptop.

"Cool! Now we can play some videogames!" Joey began to bounce on the couch. Where he gets the energy to be hyper after fighting all day, I still don't know.

"Not really. I just got this to get in touch with Gennai. I have a few questions for him." I sat the laptop down on the coffee table. The table was attached to the ground and had a solid wooden block attaching it to the floor. The table itself was wooden, matching the rest of the room. In the center was a lamp attached to the table with a single broadband jack in it. I hooked up the laptop, opened it, and turned it on. "Now everybody watch closely. This is a prime example of global monopolization at its finest." I joked but only Kristen and Jennifer got it; Chris was a little slow and Joey was too young to understand. The Windows XP Professional logo popped up on the screen and we laughed.

"So how are we going to get in touch with Gennai? Izzy had his own program and everything. We don't have that." Chris ran around behind the love seat I sat in the center of. Jennifer and Joey had crammed in beside me while Kristen leaned behind the seat with Chris. Agumon sat on the armrest on the left side of the couch while Tentomon just hovered between Chris and Kristen.

"I'll say it again: It's amazing the shizz you learn when you're evil." I grabbed hold of the monitor with both hands and focused, but nothing happened. "Um… just a moment." I pulled out my digivice and looked. I had been able to do everything when I was evil, so now I had to learn how to do it when I was in a good mood. If anger and pain gave me dark power, maybe…

"We're waiting James." Kristen sneered. I thought to myself for a happy thought and remembered eighth grade when I won my grade's 'Student of the Year' award.

"It's cheesy but it will have to do." I thought to myself and focused. A pale, glittering light went from my gloves and the monitor glowed. The desktop disappeared and digital coding began to run across the screen. I focused harder.

"What are you doing?" Jennifer whispered in my ear.

"Shhh." In a few moments the ones and zeroes became smaller and more numerous until colors began to form. Finally, a picture blinked to life of the inside of Gennai's house; I had hacked into his computer.

"What the… Izzy? What are you doing out this late?" Gennai came running into the den from the kitchen and saw us all sitting on the couch in the hotel room on the monitor. "James? What's going on? What's happened? Where are you?"

"Whoa, slow down. We called you to ask questions, not the other way around." I tried to calm Gennai down as he tried to interrogate us.

"Well answer mine first. Where are you?" He calmed down a little and sat down in front of the computer, placing a porcelain glass cup with tea down beside it.

"Were in a hotel suite in Pusan, South Korea." Gennai thought to himself for a moment and reached over to a bookshelf that was out of our sight. He pulled out a world atlas and flipped through it, quickly finding South Korea and Pusan.

"Okay, but where are the others?" He picked up his tea and went to sip on it.

"Data; Lucemon was reconfigured from their data." Gennai dropped the glass on his lap and yelled as the boiling hot tea landed across his lap. "Damnit. How!?"

"Everybody attacked Myotismon, I killed him, Daemon found us and destroyed them, forced data into me, and reconfigured Lucemon."

"You killed Myotismon? I thought you had…" I cut him off.

"Nobody likes Myotismon, not even his associates." Gennai thought to himself for a moment, withholding a question.

"What is happening there now? What was with that rush of data that came through here earlier?" Gennai leaned back in his office chair.

"The rush of data was the United Nations fleet being hacked into and destroyed. Myotismon led an attack on Odaiba and won, but was beaten back by us and a moderately sized coalition force. We stayed in Japan for a few days until…"

"Until Daemon went there again with his full army, right?" Gennai took his turn cutting me off.

"Yeah… how'd you know?" Kristen asked Gennai from over my shoulder.

"Because that army has been sweeping across Server and devastating everything. Each time it destroys another area Daemon would take the data and forcibly use it to configure more Devimon."

"What about the other continents? You know, Driver and the Network Islands." Everybody looked at me, unaware of what I was talking about.

"Blackwargreymon wiped out the islands and has nearly finished off Driver. I'm surprised you know about them." Gennai squinted suspiciously at me, but I ignored it.

"Why haven't the digi-gods done anything to stop Daemon and all the others? Shouldn't Azulongmon and those guys be more than powerful enough to take them down?" I focused again when the screen dimmed a little. I had begun to relax.

"Well, I guess I need to tell you more about what has been happening." Gennai sighed. "The digi-gods are the six most powerful Mega level digimon that exist in the Digital World. Four represent the forces of good while two represent the forces of evil. Normally the digi-gods on our side are more than able to control the other two dark-gods. However, they are not really 'gods' as you believe in the term. They were created along with the rest of the digital world and therefore have weaknesses as well. The power of the digi-gods is directly connected to the status of the digital world. Usually the power of good is strong enough in the digital world so that the digi-gods can protect it without actually physically being there, existing only on the data level, controlling the environment."

"So what's so different now?" Chris asked after he yawned.

"I'm getting to that. If you remember, when Blackwargreymon was originally created he rampaged across the digital world destroying the Destiny Stones, stones that channeled Azulongmon's power through the planet. When they were destroyed, the power shift was finally great enough to force the digi-gods back into their physical forms. However, they were still more than powerful enough to defend themselves against Blackwargreymon."

"So why didn't they stop Malomyotismon and Daemon and all of that?" Kristen stood up and stretched before leaning back down.

"The dark forces of the digital world know that they are outnumbered, so they work in the shadows, in secret, until they are powerful enough to mount an effective offensive against the digi-gods. Most of the time the digidestined are called to the digital world and are able to defeat the dark-gods before they can gain enough power, but this time was different. The dark-gods somehow hid their power over the digital world until they were already incredibly powerful. The digi-gods were immediately torn into the physical realm to fight the dark-gods. In the short time after the defeat of Malomyotismon, Daemon had built up incredible force in the Dark Ocean, bending it to his will. Meanwhile, he left Millenniumon to handle the digi-gods until he was ready, but their plans were discovered. Millenniumon was pitted against the digi-gods in a fight that left the digital world battered and bruised. Millenniumon was finally defeated, but as a final act destroyed himself in order to incapacitate the digi-gods, leaving the digital world open to attack. This brought about the 'Lucemon Incident'."

"So… he destroyed the digi-gods?" I asked, refocusing again.

"Not quite, but almost. They are injured and in hiding."

"So how are we supposed to defeat a dark god?" Joey asked Gennai, swinging his legs off the edge of the love seat.

"That's a very good question Joey and it leads me to tell you another story." We all sighed. "As you may well know, long ago war ravaged the digital world between human-digimon and beast-digimon. They were led by two digimon who were the unwitting incarnations of Millenniumon. But this was not the original conflict of the digital world. As I said earlier, the 'digi-gods' aren't really gods, just very powerful Megas. However, before there was any other digimon, there were two that were a level beyond Mega known as Deity. All the data in the human world was focused into either one or the other or into the Digital World itself. These digimon had the power to manipulate data and reformat the digital world as data came to them. But there was a problem. The two deities were mortal enemies, with completely different views of how the Digital World should be. One believed that it should be a world of beauty and peace, and so he showered the land with the rolling fields, hills, forests, and seas that you all and I are fighting to protect. However, the other deity-digimon believed that the Digital World should remain as it was, a cold, dead rock of meaningless data, and that all of it should belong in one being: himself. Finally the two digimon broke into conflict. The fight tore the Digital World into new shapes, carving deep valleys and tall mountains. But the fighting destroyed everything that the good digimon had made. In the end, the two destroyed each other, showering their data across the Digital World. This massive amount of data took various forms. The data from the Digi-God of Light created the common digimon, the landforms, oceans, and such. The data from the Digi-God of Darkness created powerful digimon that were eager to wage war against each other, no matter what they believed. It also crated the various forces of the digital world, good and bad."

"So what does this have to do with us?" My eyes hurt and I was tired from focusing, but it had become much easier.

"The dark-gods were the two creations that took up the majority of the Dark-Deity's data. Daemon and Millenniumon are like a split form of him. However, the data from the Light-Deity was spread out evenly, unaware of the Dark-Deity's objectives from beyond the grave. The chaos from the dark-deity eventually led to the war between the humans and beasts. This finally brings me back to now." Gennai sighed painfully. "I am neither a digimon nor a human, but a program created by the data from the Digi-God of Light. We all knew when the war broke out that sooner or later, the Dark-Deity would find a way to reconfigure himself and take control of the unprotected Digital World. Therefore, we maintained a constant vigil to make sure that the dark-gods, Daemon and Millenniumon, never found out their connection, but it seems we have failed." Gennai looked down, signs of age showing in his face.

"What do you mean?"

"We believe that Millenniumon's data resides within a digiegg that Daemon either carries with him or leaves in the Dark Ocean. Daemon has somehow learned of the legends and plans to reconfigure Millenniumon using data from both your world and the Digital World. If he does this, knowing what he does now, the two could merge together and reform the Dark-Deity. Should that happen, I do not know if there will be anything we can do to stop him. Even the digivices have their limits; they can not face the powers that lie beyond Mega. This is your mission: you must stop Daemon before he revives Millenniumon. I know his army is grand, but if you band together along with the entire human and digimon race, I am positive you can stop him. You have within you all power beyond what you know. The digi-gods did not just create your digivices, but empowered them." We stared confusedly. "When you all were finally brought together at my house for the first time, they decided that their job was done and broke themselves down to empower your digivices so that you all would be able to attain powers beyond what previous digidestined have ever had. You must do your best to be what you represent. Let not fear, hate, ignorance, or despair hold back the power of your crests. For thousands of years we have spoken legends of a final major conflict, and now you represent them. The existence of existence itself lies in your hands."

* * *

It was three in the morning and I lied staring up at the ceiling. I was exhausted, but couldn't fall asleep. I turned my head and saw Jennifer lying next to me in the bed sound asleep. I was lying on top of the covers still in my clothes, unable to silence the questions running through my head. Chris, Joey, and Kristen were all shoved in the other bed, asleep as well. I got up and went back to the laptop in the living room. I turned it on and focused, quickly finding Gennai's data in the Digital World. I accessed it and then turned on Gennai's computer. I didn't change anything in Gennai's data, but just woke him up. He knew instantly it was me when he woke up and ran to his computer.

"What is it James?"

"There are still a few questions I have that I didn't want to ask in front of the others."

"I know, but did you have to come back to ask so late at night?" Gennai stretched.

"When you talk about the digi-gods empowering the digivices, you only talk about the others, right? I mean, there are only four digi-gods, not five."

"You're right."

"Then where do I get my power?" Gennai sighed, well aware that he was about to have to make another long explanation.

"Humans and Digimon are very, very different. Digimon are created from the data and equations made by computers in your world. Therefore, they usually stay fairly constant in their mood and feelings about life. However, humans are far more complex which creates problems when they are translated into data. Human thought and feeling can vary from the darkest evils to the greatest goods in a single person, such as you have shown. Without a digivice, this unstable data affects the environment of the Digital World. The digivice is simply a channeling tool. It channels the digital energy created by one's emotions into others."

"So what makes me different from the others?"

"You already know that. You weren't supposed to come. When you first came here the more extreme emotions had profound effects on the Digital World, such as the definite split between night and day that was created during fights. I realized that you would not be willing to leave such an important task and so, with the help of the digi-gods, forged another digivice. However, without a partner or spirit to channel energy into, it simply helps you control the energy and channel it within yourself, but…"

"But… what?"

"But you have figured out how to control the digivice in detail because of this self-channeling. That is how we are speaking right now, that is how you are able to use attributes, and that is how you and Kumamon destroyed Frostkawagamon. You didn't know it, but you were subconsciously channeling energy into him when you held that bazooka. That is also how you destroyed the coalition fleet." I looked down. "This brings me to a very important question." I looked back up. "When your nightmares began here I realized that something had happened in your past that was beginning to bother you. However, I never realized how much it was bothering, or how many things were bothering you. For your own safety I won't make you recall them to me now, but I have to tell you James, you need to confront your fears soon."

"I can't."

"Excuse me?"

"Whenever I think about them I lose control. That is how Myotismon turned me over so quickly and easily."

"Well you seem smart enough to control them."

"Ever heard of a 'Tragic Flaw'? Well I tend to hold tightly to my emotions."

"You have to loosen up James."

"I'd like to see you try to." I was getting frustrated and I focused a little too hard, making the lights in Gennai's house glow brighter for moment.

"Calm down. What do you mean?" I took a deep breath.

"Forgive me if I blow any bulbs in your house. My history is… well let's say chaotic. Ever since I was born my parents have been at each others throats. There have been times when I would stumble in on my dad beating the crap out of my mom. I became scared of the world; hell, I was just a little kid. Eventually Mom had another child, my little brother Justin. He quickly began to look up to me and would often run to me for help long before going to my mom or dad. Whenever he got in trouble at school, whenever he got beaten up, whenever anything went wrong, he came to me. I was the person that had to protect him because nobody else would." I began to shake a little as tears began to well up in my eyes. "Finally my parents decided to divorce, and not in a peaceful way. They shouted and ratted out on each other the hordes of things that they had done since I had been born. Both accused the other of beating them, using drugs, being an alcoholic, so on, so on, until the judge finally had enough. By the end of the day, Justin and I were in state custody."

"Now calm down James, that couldn't have been that bad." I was breathing faster now.

"The hell it wasn't. Do you have any idea what those places are like? You end up with kids who you think are going to slit your throat any second. You end up in a place where you are afraid that you are going to catch something from the shower because the white plastic tub is brown and green, and not from mold. You end up in a place where powers beyond your control try to force you away from everything you have ever known or loved."

"James calm down or I'm going to disconnect my computer and make you go to bed." Gennai tried feebly as he listened intently to my story.

"They finally tried to put us in foster homes separately. I raged against them, but to no avail. The day we were supposed to go my parents gave up the fight against each other to keep us from being separated."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I wasn't strong enough to protect the people I loved and I hated… I hate myself for it. I couldn't ever get over it and began to rely more and more on other things to keep myself from losing it."

"What kinds of things?" Gennai was thinking along the lines of drugs.

"Music, imaginary friends, so on. I didn't have any friends at school and my parents didn't understand my plight. I would lie to psychologists until they said I was fine and then I would go back to being depressed and facing my challenges alone. Finally it all caught up with me. One day my mom left Justin with me while she went to run errands. He was swimming in the shallow end of the pool splashing about in the blazing summer day. I was on our trampoline lying on my back lazily. I thought that he would be fine, but still kept an ear and eye on him. Eventually I fell asleep and when I woke up an hour later…" I stopped, unable to explain the actual scene. "An hour later I was living the nightmares that I had when I was with you." I was shaking violently now.

"James, I think I've heard enough for tonight."

"He always relied on me for protection and I failed him! And then I was brought to the Digital World and shown that there was more to life than it seemed. I was entrusted with the care of existence and promised myself that I wouldn't fail again. But then Myotismon came…"

"James, I want you to shut the hell up now and go to bed." I ignored Gennai's stern pleas, tears flowing down my eyes, my voice growing deeper, colder.

"I wasn't able to protect them from him either. I was failing again and it brought back so many memories. And Joey, he reminded me so much of Justin, especially when he was thrown against those damn bars…" Gennai had given up and decided to just hope that I would finish my story with my sanity intact. "But one thing kept me alive that entire time I was gone. My fears overwhelmed me and I realized what kinds of powers this world, this digivice, and this pain bestowed upon me. I didn't care what happened, as long as I could become powerful enough to change what happened that day."

"So what stopped you? Why did you give up that power?"

"Jennifer. The day I saw her I just thought she was hot but as we went on together I thought about her more and more. She helped me and I helped her. It was the thing that I really hoped for: that sooner or later I would get the courage to tell her I loved her." I was calming down now. "I hoped that I could make it through all this alive and that maybe we could at least go on a date or something. But for that, I had to protect her, as well as the others."

"Is that how you came back?" Gennai was breathing heavily, relieved that I had calmed down.

"That day when I destroyed Myotismon, Daemon went about and destroyed everybody, then went at her. I felt the same rage that I was about to fail, but, it was different. I didn't feel like I was going to fail, but that I couldn't fail. That no matter what happened to me, I would not fail. Finally I broke free of the chains and fought Daemon." I leaned back on the couch and let go of the monitor, focusing without thinking. I noticed my digivice glowed faintly. "It was so much greater than what the pain gave me. My fears were still there, but were different. They were in the background, shadowed by… something."

"Hope." Gennai finally spoke up.

"What?"

"You didn't know it, but you were feeling hope. All those years you were losing hope until you finally became Fuzenmon. But when you met Jennifer, the power of her crest revived that hope. You hoped that you would get past all of your fears, pain, sorrow, to make sure that her crest shined on forever." Gennai laughed a little, lightening the mood. "You're in love young man. Just remember that feeling you had that day. Just try to not think of your past, but hope only of the future and what it holds for you." I thought about it for a moment, finally feeling fatigue creep over me.

"Okay."

"Don't worry about what bad things may happen, but just hope that the outcome will be good, then do what you can to fulfill those hopes and dreams."

"Dreams… is that why Daemon called me the King of Nightmares?"

"Nightmares are simply the dark interpretation of dreams. Dreams and Nightmares are one in the same; they rely on each other. It just goes to show how close light and dark are." Gennai was looking off to the side spacing out a little. He shook his head and looked back at the screen. "Sorry, began to digress."

"Its okay, my mind is wandering too. I think I'm going to bed."

"Good, get some sleep. You still have a long road ahead of you." I stopped focusing and the picture of Gennai disappeared. A few moments later the Windows desktop appeared. I shut down the laptop and went to bed, still in my clothes.

"Hope… hope… I've got hope…" I whispered it over and over as I fell asleep.

* * *

"Awww… how cute. You finally said it. But how come you couldn't tell me?"

"Beat it or I'll knock the bejesus out of you."

"Hah! Hope, that's a joke. You don't love her. It's nothing but your instinctive needs…"

"Yeah, it is an instinctive need. I instinctively melt upon eye contact with her. Now scram. You can't do squat now."

"I may be weakened—I may be on the verge of silence, but you can never destroy me completely James. I'll always be here, in the back of your mind, waiting. You created me and now I'm a part of you forever."

"I'll choose who to be and when, Fuzenmon. And I choose for you to shut the hell up. I don't need you any more."

"You'll fail again, James, and when you do, I'll be there. Ready to rise again and show you true power."

"No… you won't."

I wasn't entirely right… he would show up again, many years later, but he'd never be able to trump me with power ever again.


	28. Ch 23: The Enemy of My Enemy

**Chapter 23: The Enemy of My Enemy**

"James." There was a weak pushing on my shoulder. "James, wake up, I'm scared." I groggily opened my eyes to find Joey standing beside the bed. The sun was barely over the horizon and glared into the room, the blinds of the windows left wide open from the night before. Everybody else was still sound asleep. Jennifer had rolled over in the night and her arm was lying across my chest—I couldn't help but blush a vibrant red. I moved her arm, pulled out my digivice and looked at the time: 7:00 AM.

"What's wrong?"

"Just… look." Joey walked over to the window and leaned against it slightly for a better view of what scared him. I followed and stood behind him. "It's the Devimon." In the distance we could see Japan. However, it wasn't like we had left it the night before.

It was pitch black, thick clouds hanging drearily over it, casting shadows over the landscape. There was no longer any color to the island; it looked like the moon. The barren rock jutted out from the ocean scarring the view of it, standing out in the beautiful blue waters of the Pacific. Most of all was the Devimon. They swarmed around the island in circles like buzzards zoning in on road-kill. Along with them were what looked like tornadoes, but I couldn't tell from so far. If they were, they were easily F5's, miles wide while sending dust and debris everywhere. However, for all we could tell, they were just columns of Devimon flying about pointlessly.

"Man Joey, you're right. That is scary." I continued staring until I felt something. I felt like I was looking somebody square in the eyes, and them back. I broke my gaze and backed from the window. "Don't worry about it but remember, that is why we're here. To make sure that doesn't happen everywhere."

"But… how are we supposed to stop them?" I had never seen Joey act like this before. He always acted like he was as old as we were. He could have fooled anybody into thinking he was just a really short teenager who for some reason, had yet to hit puberty.

"We'll find a way. We're digidestined, we always find a way." I thought to myself for a minute. "Remember when the first ones beat Venomyotismon? They didn't know what to do at first either." Joey stopped looking at the islands and stepped away from the windows. He looked at me for a moment with dread in his eyes, but quickly replaced it with a weak smile.

"I guess you're right."

"You know I'm right. Would I lie to you?" He shook his head and his fear fell away from him. "Now come on, let's go wake up Gennai." We walked into the den and I quickly got Gennai up. It was getting much easier with each time I did it.

"What is it now?" He yawned. "Even data needs rest."

"Yeah well we need a battle plan Gennai, what should we do? Where do we go next? We're five kids with amazing powers, but we're running short on miracles."

"Didn't that army stop Myotismon's force without you?"

"Yeah but what does that have to…"

"Well what do you think one could do WITH your help?" Gennai cut me off.

"Well Gennai what do you want me to do, walk up to the de-militarized zone and draft all the troops there?" I was trying to keep my voice down, but Gennai was getting on my nerves. I spoke in a stressed, sarcastic tone.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Joey and I stared at the screen.

"Please tell me you're kidding." I rested my face in my gloves. I hadn't gotten a full night's sleep because of my long chat with Gennai.

"Not at all. You can either get them to fight with you now or they'll fight for you when the fighting has begun."

"You know that the people along that line have…"

"… had missiles pointed at each other for fifty years? Yes, I know. I know my fair share of human history." Genai finished my sentence for me. "Just trust me." He got up from the computer and it clicked off. Joey looked at me.

"So what do we do?"

"Well Joey, we hope that Bush isn't hated as much as the news says he is."

* * *

"ARE YOU NUTS!?" Kristen screamed at me as we all hurriedly made sure we hadn't dropped or left anything behind. "That's twenty miles of No Man's Land! We'll be gunned down before we can get within shouting distance!"

"Calm down. Just because they are technically still at war doesn't mean they'll shoot us… right?" Jennifer walked between Kristen and me.

"Right. Besides, we're going to just contact the south side first. We get the help of the Americans and the South Koreans and get a meeting with whoever is on the north side. I'm sure they'll help us seeing what has happened to Japan." Kristen crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Well how do we get there, it's at least three, four hundred miles."

"We fly, just like we got here from Japan."

"What if we're shot down?"

"We fly low and under radar."

"What if somebody reports us?"

"Then we land and walk until the skies are clear."

"What if…"

"Oh just give it up already! We're going!" Chris finally lost his nerve and yelled at the two of us. "We need help and they don't want to die. Now I'm the leader and what I say goes!"

"Who made you the leader?" I yelled back. Chris fumbled about for some words before finally shouting back without thinking.

"I… I've got the goggles!" I rolled my eyes and made sure I had all my things: shades, wallet, and D-X. That was about it.

"Ready people?" Everybody nodded. "I hope you got a full night's sleep." I spoke to Tentomon as he hovered behind Kristen.

"Oh, can't we get some food first?" I hadn't thought of food. I thought for a moment before realizing I hadn't eaten anything for weeks. The data I had absorbed must have kept me running. That wasn't the case anymore and at first thought of food, my stomach nearly collapsed on itself. It growled loudly. I tried to keep talking and act cool, but everybody laughed anyways.

"Sure. I guess we can stay a few more minutes and call room service."

* * *

"This place is beautiful!" Kristen shouted over the winds blowing against Megakabuterimon. "Kind of hard to believe it was a war-zone once!" We had eaten breakfast at the hotel with some uneasiness. None of us knew what it was exactly that we ate, but we ate it none the less. It was good, but Korean food doesn't quite appeal to me like a nice Cheeseburger. We were cruising over the landscape of South Korea, looking down over the landscape. I had always imagined it looked like jungle, but in reality it didn't. Everybody except Jennifer was on the back of Megakabuterimon; she had digivolved to Kazemon and flew on her own.

"Yeah well get a nice good look, because I bet that in the next twenty-four hours it's going to be a war-zone again!" I shouted back over the wind. We had been flying for about two hours solid now, without any rest or hesitation. It never got boring flying on the back of a giant bug.

"What's that down there?" Chris pointed down to the ground, goggles over his eyes so that he could see through the wind. I had my shades on while Kristen and Joey sat just behind Megakabuterimon's head so that it would block the wind. I looked over the edge down at the ground and saw troops training on the ground below. They were all pointing up at us and shouting, running about.

"I told you we'd be spotted!" Kristen yelled at me with a smug look on her face.

"I think we're here guys. Let's land." Chris shouted orders and held on tightly. Megakabuterimon's back was not as nearly as smooth as I had imagined it would be when I was little. Megakabuterimon lowered down to a small clearing in the trees and dropped us off before devolving back to Tentomon. Kazemon landed and devolved too and we looked around.

"Where'd they go?" Joey looked around. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" Joey shouted into the woods. Suddenly there was volley of loud clicking; the guns being cocked and aimed.

"Get on the ground!" Soldiers aimed from around trees at us, yelling without breaking eye contact. Everybody dropped down, including Tentomon and Agumon, except me. I decided it was time to be stupid.

"Jeez man, calm down. We're on your side." The soldier wasn't swayed.

"Kid I'm telling you, get on the ground now or I'll shoot!" I could hear a flurry of movement behind me where the others were lying on the ground. I guessed that the other troops were apprehending them. I could hear muffled yells.

"Listen, we only want to… whoa!" I stopped talking and threw up my arm. My gloves glowed brightly and the bullet bounced off it. "Holy smack man!" The soldier looked at me with amazement. "Are you done?"

"Um… please… get on the… ground." The soldier was breathing a little faster. I would be too if I had just seen somebody knock a bullet away with their ski-gloves. His aim became a little unsteady. I could hear more movement behind me. I got ready to turn around and fight but there was a shout from further in the trees.

"Drop those weapons!" It was an officer of some rank, I could tell. "The last thing we need is a dead teenager being paraded across the news." The officer looked younger than the soldier who had been aiming at me.

"But sir, they're the ones who were with the monsters sighted."

"New rule! Don't shoot any Digimon unless I give specific orders to do so! We don't have enough information yet to rule out who is good and who is bad." I looked at the man.

"What did you just call them?" The officer looked at me like I was an old friend of his.

"You should know. You're wanted for questioning. It seems the UN as a few more questions for you. Not to mention the fact that you are registered as runaways back in the states."

"How do you know all this?" The soldiers behind the trees all eased up and began to come into the open.

"Well you and you're friends were paraded all over America's Most Wanted until Japan was attacked and you all were brought to the UN. Then you were made out to be inhuman, and you have yet to disprove that."

"It doesn't really matter but I'm all human." I whacked my chest a little harder than I meant to and let out a short gasp. "Anyways, my friends and I need to speak with the person in charge around here." The soldier looked at me, the smile gone from his face.

"Why?" I thought to myself for a minute and decided to be honest.

"We want to coordinate a joint defensive between American, South, and North Korean troops against the imminent invasion from Japan." Some troops laughed at me but the officer kept a straight face.

"Okay. Come with me." The soldiers stopped laughing and looked at their officer as if he had lost his mind. I followed the officer through some woods to a Hummer sitting on a dirt road. "Get in; your friends will be there when we get there."

"Where is there?"

"There is all you need to know." I began to wonder if this guy really was nuts.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. You expect me to send thousands of troops south to Pusan to defend against an invasion that only you seem to know about? Then you want me to get the North Koreans to do the same, all at the command of a bunch of kids!?" The general yelled at us, veins bulging on his head. He was your stereotypical commander: bald with a cigar in his mouth; small, beady eyes; and a perfectly ironed uniform that ran into his head because he had no neck. "Who do you think I am!?" We all sat in chairs in front of his desk.

"I knew they wouldn't listen." Kristen murmured under her breath

"We're not just kids, we're…"

"Don't give me that hero crap!" He jumped up from his desk. "Hell, that's all anybody talks about around here! Monsters and aliens in Japan; I haven't seen shit! For all I know this could just be people panicking over some new Godzilla movie or some damned thing like that!" I jumped up and leaned on the desk, face to face with the commander.

"You want proof!? I'll give you proof!" I jumped over the desk to a computer sitting on another desk against the back wall.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" I quickly grabbed hold of the monitor of the computer, which was already turned on, and focused. A moment later Gennai was on the screen and the general was at my throat. "What the… who the hell is that?"

"Calm down commander. My name is Gennai and I'm here to explain a few things to you." The commander's grip loosened on my neck and I backed away from him.

"Get talking, fast." The commander sat down in his chair and I quickly made my way to the other side of the desk while Gennai spoke.

* * *

"Calm down Chris, I don't think ALL communists are evil. What was the name of that communist musician dude that wrote that really patriotic song? I can't remember his name or the song…" I tried to ease Chris' nerves as we rode along towards the border with the commander.

"Quit it kid." The commander scoffed at me. He had believed Gennai and prepared the South Korean and American troops accordingly, but he resented having to go to his enemy for help. It was about one in the afternoon and the sun beat down on the Hummer. It was just another regular military one without air conditioning or anything, so the five of us: the commander, Chris, Agumon, the driver, and myself, had to sweat it out. Everybody else had gone back to Pusan to help prepare the defense of the city. We were riding in the middle of a tropical forest; not thick enough to call Jungle but the trees reminded me of the palm trees at the beach back home. "There is no such thing as a 'good communist'. All that damn press has finally gotten to you." I felt the same way he did, but I was doing my best to convince Chris that he wasn't going to be shot. The vehicle hit a bump and Chris jumped.

"Ahhh! We're hit!"

"No where not! Calm down man. Where's that fiery, ignorant courage I'm used to seeing." If looks could kill the commander would have annihilated the both of us by now.

"Sir!" The soldier driving the vehicle shouted to the commander, sitting in the back with us. "We're here!" The vehicle crawled to a stop and I looked out of the front at the paradise like scenery—something that could have never been scarred by the sting of battle.

"Unless we fought the Korean War completely underground, I think you're a little off man." I spoke sarcastically to the soldier. He withheld a retort and pointed forward. In the distance there was a dust cloud being kicked up by an old jeep, speeding down the dirt road. It was the only other people we had seen since going into the De-Militarized Zone. It quickly reached us and came to a stop. The door opened and a tall, finely dressed officer stepped out. He was easily in his fifties or sixties; you could see the years of wear and tear in his eyes, as well as in the wrinkles on his face. He stood perfectly straight and nodded his head only ever so slightly as the commander stepped out of the Hummer, the rest of us in tow. When Agumon hopped out, his eyes widened a little and he stared.

"Is this what you have come for help with? A lizard and a pair of kids?" The North Korean mocked the commander.

"Is this what you have come for help with? A famine that could have easily been prevented except for your own insurmountable incompetence?" The two looked as if they were about to shoot each other.

"Calm down and back away." I stepped between the two, making sure I had a hand to contend with each man if things went down hill. "Sir, let me do the talking." The commander glared at me and took a few steps back.

"You believe that I have the time to talk of these matters with a child?!? This is an insult!" The North Korean looked about himself in frustration, yelling.

"Sir, with all due respect, I'm the one that organized this meeting and would prefer it if you didn't refer to me as a child. If I were in your country I think you would quickly slap a gun in my hands if worse came to worst." This made the Korean officer shut up quickly. "Have you seen or heard of the devastation of Japan?"

"No. I have received no news of anything happening in Japan except for that it has been destroyed by monsters."

"Okay then, quick review of the situation." I took a deep breath and began talking quickly. "There is a world other than our own Earth called the Digital World. It is made up of the physical forms of the data generated by the computers and digital devices in our own world. Creatures in this world are wide and various and some are evil. The most evil of these beasts has found a way into our world and laid waste to the Japanese islands. Current information has convinced us that his next target is Pusan, South Korea. If he breaks through, then I expect that all of Korea, and possibly Manchuria will be smoke and ash by the end of tomorrow. These creatures harness incredible powers, such as the one with us today. Agumon, please step forward." I sounded like an auctioneer. "Chris, could you help him digivolve?" The Korean looked at me as if I was insane.

"Excuse me, but… digivolve?"

"The Digital World equivalent of evolution, only sped up to occur in an instant." I nodded to Chris and his digivice glowed. Agumon shouted.

"Agumon digivolve to… Greymon!" The red light cleared and the now much larger Greymon towered over us. The Korean tried to say something, but stumbled for words.

"As you can see this is one incredible creature." I nodded to Chris and he nodded to Greymon. Greymon aimed to our left at a clump of trees.

"Nova Blast!" A blast of flame shot out and incinerated the trees. The Korean took a few steps back.

"And this is not even close to what we're up against. However, we have found out that conventional weapons and explosives are effective against the Digimon we must fight. This is why we're here. We need to organize as many troops to hold Pusan and the Korean peninsula. If we can turn the tide here, we can beat the evil digimon back into the Digital World. So what do you say, will you help us?" The Korean broke out of his fearful glare and calmed down, realizing what I had just said. It was a lot to take in.

"What is in it for us?"

"You mean other than getting to go on living? Ask him, I have nothing more to offer." I pointed at the commander.

"I have attained permission from Washington to offer a full aid-package to North Korea in exchange for their services in this endeavor." The commander had calmed down while I had talked. "Food, funds, assistance on public works projects, as well as a lift of trade embargos on North Korea." The Korean looked down for a moment in thought.

"I must attain permission from…"

"Don't. You know he won't let you." I cut him off. "Leaders of nations tend to be dense and therefore are being left out of this matter as much as possible." He looked at me as if I was aiming a gun at him.

"You don't understand. If I fight alongside and enemy, I will be killed for treason!"

"No you won't, you have my word." He hesitated before finally agreeing.

"What forces should I bring?" The commander finally took my place in negotiations. I walked back and hi-fived Chris.

"All of them. Bring everything you have. We are already organizing our own troops along the beaches and the outskirts of Pusan. Any missiles or heavy weapons are most important. The bigger the gun, the better." Chris, Agumon, and I walked around back behind the Hummer.

"Dude, that was smooth." Chris rocked his head a bit as if he were listening to a CD. "Very smooth."

"Quit trying to act cool. You aren't good at it." Agumon and I laughed and Chris looked crushed.

"Hey, I thought you were my partner!" Chris yelled at Agumon.

"Ease up Chris. We're just kidding." Agumon waited a moment. "Right?" He looked at me and I stopped laughing.

"Right." The commander jogged back to us and we could hear both vehicles cranking up.

"Everybody in, we're going."

"So what about the North Koreans? They're going to help?" Chris tried to catch the commander's attention as he flung the trunk-like door to the Hummer open.

"Yes. They're sending everything they have from along the DMZ line to Pusan."

"And how many thousands of troops would that be?" I asked as I piled in after Chris and Agumon.

"More than you need to know. Now let's go. They'll get headed to Pusan immediately. I expect they'll get there in about two days."

"Two days!?" I yelled in shock. "We don't have two days! We're going to be attacked tonight!"

"It's a lot of troops to move young man and… how do you know when they're going to attack?" The commander eyed me suspiciously.

"You're asking me this after I hacked a connection into the Digital World, organized a combined force of three nations that all hate each other, and knocked away a bullet?" The commander's gaze was unwavering. "I know for reasons that you could never understand." My voice lowered a little and it was enough for the commander to back off. The Hummer sped along twice as fast as it had the way here, trying to get to Pusan before nightfall. I guessed we had around ten hours to get there.


	29. Ch 24: Struggles

**Chapter 24: Struggles**

"Aim them a little higher! Yeah! Most of them will be coming from the air so we need to be ready!" Kristen yelled out at a couple of soldiers manning some artillery. She rode on the back of Kabuterimon, steadily weaving back and forth across the beach as she gave orders to troops setting up the defenses. The number of missile batteries, tanks, and other various weapons of war made the beaches outside Pusan intimidating.

Since Kristen was the smartest when it came to things like this, Jennifer and Joey had quickly put her in charge of setting up defense. They merely ran about helping the troops on the ground. Kazemon was flying guns and sandbags onto the tops of buildings near the beach while Kumamon quickly took things from one side of the beach to the other; he had created a solid path of ice across the beach to quickly slide through it. The sun was just beginning to set, casting a red-orange glow onto the sky.

"Kristen," Kabuterimon interrupted Kristen as she began to tell a group of soldiers where to set up mortars, "can we take a break? We've been flying back and forth for two hours."

"Sure thing, but let's get the others first." Kristen gripped harder as Kabuterimon dived lower to the ground, his wings spraying sand to the sides.

"Right!" Kabuterimon picked up speed to catch the bear as he tore across the beach. Kristen called to him, cupping one hand around her mouth like a megaphone while she held tightly with the other.

"Hey Kumamon! Time to take a break! I think these guys have things under control!"

"Finally; I'm starving!" He tossed down the bag of ammunition at the feet of a soldier. Kumamon skidded sideways, sending an icy mist about before sliding back down the beach towards a beachside restaurant. Kabuterimon turned and flew to Kazemon, who was supplying a group of Korean troops who were garrisoning the roof of the restaurant.

"Kazemon! Take five!" Kabuterimon called out as he landed on the sidewalk alongside the two-story building.

"Only five? I hope you mean hours." Kazemon flew down and digivolved with Kabuterimon as Kumamon came running up. He followed suit and the four walked inside. It was fine dining restaurant, filled to the brim with soldiers quickly eating their last meal before the suspected attack. "Table for four!" The finely dressed man scoffed at the kids and Tentomon, thinking them to be normal, immature children.

"Right this way." He said it in a slightly stuck up tone. The restaurant had been somewhat brought under new management, as the officers of the thousands of troops along the miles of beach in front of Pusan had forced every restaurant to help supply food, giving out IOUs. The man led them to a booth and handed out menus. "Your waiter will be with you momentarily. Forgive me if it takes some time, as you can see we are very busy right now." The man walked back to the front.

"I don't see any Chicken Nuggets on here." Joey scoured over the extensive menu, frowning as he looked at the Kid's Menu.

"I don't think they have any Joey. We'll probably get stuck eating noodles again." Jennifer looked over Joey's shoulder at the menu, making sure she was right. Kristen turned around to the neighboring booth, looking around the soldiers that sat there.

"Oh, don't mind me; I'm just trying to decide what to order." One soldier sitting on the far side of the booth pointed out Kristen to his comrades sitting on her near side. As they were ordering, there was a loud racket from the entrance.

"Everybody to your positions, now!" A mix of Korean and American soldiers ran through shouting to the eating men. "They're coming!" In an instant, there was a flurry of green, brown, white, and black as the soldiers jumped up from their tables and towards the door. The digidestined looked at each other.

"Already!? But the guys are still gone!" Kristen shouted over the noise at Jennifer.

"We'll just have to fight until they get here!" Jennifer threw down her menu and nearly dragged Joey out of the booth by the arm. They ran outside behind the troops and moved to get out of the way. "Let's go!" Jennifer pulled out her digivice. "Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kazemon!" The light cleared and she waited a moment before it rose up again, the Crest of Love glowing brightly. "Kazemon digivolve to… Arashimon!"

"Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kumamon!" Joey didn't even wait for the bright, blue light to die down before continuing to ultimate. "Kumamon digivolve to… Polamon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!" A moment passed and… "Kabuterimon digivolve to… Megakabuterimon!" Kristen hopped on her partner's back along with Polamon, the two airborne digimon taking flight to see past the rabble The soldiers were right; in the distance the clouds of Devimon had begun to fly directly at Pusan.

It was like watching a blast of smoke miles wide and hundreds of feet tall come flying at you. In the waters there were Marinedevimon swimming as fast as they could, trying to keep up with the Devimon and Ladydevimon. Polamon jumped off and took a position with the soldiers, dug into the sands of the beach, while Arashimon and Megakabuterimon hovered above. They could hear officers shouting at soldiers below.

"Hold your fire!" The soldiers did as they were told out of instinct; fear would have them open fire immediately, but the Devimon were still out of range, about a hundred kilometers away. Soldiers manning the artillery and missile batteries dashed about, preparing to be the first to open fire since they had the range to hit them. A few moments later the order was given to them. "Fire!" Shouts went out across the edge of the city, whose citizens had been evacuated to the west side of the peninsula—with the exception of those who could help. A roar of artillery and missiles launching boomed out from the beach as the shells and explosives flew rapidly at the equally paced Devimon. The shots slammed into the cloud and screams could be heard from the injured digimon. Fire plumed out for a moment, but was quickly engulfed by the other Devimon. More shots rang out as the batteries were reloaded. The sun had set, leaving the projectiles to sear the dark, ocean sky, lighting up the approaching wall. Data burst everywhere, but seemed to just fly backwards towards Japan.

Arashimon stared, barely breathing as more shots rang out from the cannons along with the hissing, roaring noise the missiles made. Megakabuterimon inhaled heavily, impatient to fight and be done with it, win or lose. Kristen looked in fear at the approaching wave of despair. Polamon lied on his stomach on the side of a foxhole with two other soldiers, with all of his Hailstorm Cannons aimed up to arc, looking over the edge, ready to join the others when they opened fire. Ten minutes passed as the batteries fired steadily, their fires mixing with the lights from the city to show the approaching Demon Corp. Jennifer looked off to the far left and thought she saw something stand out, a speck of white. She quickly turned back though.

"FIRE AT WILL!!!" All the officers shouted simultaneously; they had coordinated with walkie-talkies when to attack. The beach exploded as assault rifles sent bullets screaming into the night. The streaks of glowing, hot bullets pelted into the Devimon, but they refused to go down. A few seconds passed before they finally began to break into data, falling back into the others.

"HAILSTORM!!!" Polamon screamed as loud as he could, his shouts heard over the chaos of the fight. Baseball sized chunks of glittering, glowing ice blasted into the Devimon, bringing down dozens as he dug into the sandy side of the foxhole to keep himself from falling off.

"Fajita Cannon!" Winds from Arashimon's attack sent sand flying everywhere, dropping visibility to near nothing. The blast of energy cleared through a couple of Devimon before dissipating. Meanwhile, she charged up another shot.

"Horn Buster!" A bolt of electricity shot from the horn of Megakabuterimon towards the Devimon. It glowed through the sandstorm Arashimon had made like a flare and slammed into the evil digimon. Hundreds of Devimon and Ladydevimon were being downed every few seconds, but the attack showed no signs of letting up. Finally, the Devimon slammed into the troops on the beach, tearing them apart. Polamon did a back-flip out of the foxhole, changing the aim of his attack as he did, blocking the attacks of the Devimon with his arms. Megakabuterimon and Arashimon landed quickly to keep from being knocked out of the sky and continued firing from there. There was no more organization; soldiers shot blindly as best they could as the Devimon filled every space and flowed freely past the massive blockade. The shouts of soldiers could barely be heard over the screeches and insane laughter of the Devimon as they tore apart the defense.

* * *

The jeep bumped along violently as it peaked eighty miles per hour down the dirt path. They were nearing the city when I felt him.

"Stop the vehicle, now!" The Hummer came to a screeching halt at my command, slinging us all towards the front of the vehicle.

"What the hell!? We've got to go now!" The commander raged at me as I knocked open the door to the military vehicle. "We don't have much time before the attack!"

"The attack's already begun! You guys go on and do what you can; I'll do my fighting from here!"

"What? What kind of coward are you!?" The commander was infuriated, thinking I was trying to run.

"He's not running!" Chris jumped up and restrained the commander, closing the door to the Hummer, well aware what I was about to do. "Go, now!" He shouted to the driver and the Hummer took off, finally coming off the dirt road onto a highway. It took a left and flew towards Pusan. I turned around and ran through the trees towards the beach. It was pitch black, but I still retained some of the benefits of being evil—I could see pretty well in the dark. I came out on the beach and saw it; just a short ways away the attack had begun. The cloud of Devimon stretched all the way back to Japan and the horizon, with no signs of an end. They slammed into the defenses, but that was the least of my worries. As I watched I saw him veer off in my direction, the point of white light in the ocean of darkness. He flew with amazing speed and landed on the beach a few yards down in a matter of minutes while I waited.

"So, why is it that you have come out here all alone? Do you think you can beat me by yourself?" Lucemon spoke in a sarcastic tone as he stood, staring at me.

"Why is it you have come out here to meet me? Why aren't you happily attacking the soldiers in Pusan?" I retorted and took a step forward, clenching my fists tightly. Dark energy began to form, my digivice glowing a negative. I knew the others weren't nearly powerful enough to stand a chance against Lucemon, and the only reason I could even hold out was because of the reconfiguration link between us.

"If you want to die then fine." His eyes squinted and a thin blast of crimson light shot at me. I threw up my gloves and blocked it, my sneakers digging into the sands as I was pushed back. It finally cleared and Lucemon dived down on me from the sky above, wielding what looked like a lance, which was odd because I had never seen him with a weapon. I dodged it and countered.

"Zero Fist!" Dark energy burned around my gloves and I punched Lucemon in the chest. He took a step back but nothing more.

"You're trying to kill evil with evil? You're more ignorant than I thought." My heart dropped. If I couldn't hurt him then I was merely a diversion, biding my time until I was taken down. Lucemon lifted the lance out of the sand and knocked me away. I flew towards the water and landed on the wet sands as the water receded a bit. Lucemon took a swipe at me and I grabbed hold of the lance as the tip of it cut my face. I struggled to hold it, but Lucemon was immensely powerful.

"Think James… what did Gennai tell you to do?" I spoke softly to myself.

"And now he's finally lost his mind, how pathetic." Lucemon pressed harder. A memory of my talk with Gennai rung through my head as the lance began to press into my cheek.

"Just try to not think of your past, but hope only of the future and what it holds for you." Hope; if hope was my crest then that was what I had to do, damnit; hope. I focused harder, my eyes closed. I was going to defeat Lucemon. The reinforcements from North Korea would arrive and we would beat back the Demon Corps. And finally, we would beat Daemon himself. There was no way we could lose, too much depended on us.

"I hope you came prepared." My eyes snapped open as the dark energy around my gloves disappeared.

"For what?" Lucemon pressed ever harder, but to no avail.

"For your worst nightmare." I focused and a blast of light erupted from my digivice and from my gloves. I pushed the lance to the side and it fell to the ground. "Celestial Fist!" I jumped up and attacked at the same time. I slugged Lucemon across the face and he was knocked away a couple of feet. "Who's the weak creature now?" We would rebuild Pusan and then Japan. Then after that, we would repair the damage to the Digital World, no matter how long it took.

"There's no way I'm losing to a punk like you! Duality!" Lucemon quickly formed an orb of darkness in one hand and an orb of light in the other. He threw them at me and as they came close, energy began to spread between them.

"Guess what?" I caught the orbs and was thrown back a few yards, the wind knocked out of me. Lucemon looked in shock. "I can control both too, thanks to you. Oh, and one more thing." The orb of light turned dark. "You know no light. You are corrupt to the core and know nothing but hate." At this, both orbs turned light. "But me, I know how to use my darkness now. Holy Nova!" I slammed the two orbs together and the beam shot out from my hands. Lucemon blocked, but was hurled down the beach as the blast of light pummeled against him. Finally it cleared and he landed, breathing heavily for a moment before getting back up.

"Fine! I guess I'll just have to kill you the old fashioned way!" Lucemon lunged at me, wings spread, and tackled me to the ground. He punched me across the face a few times, the cuts widening, before I finally got a chance to react.

"Celestial Fist!" I threw my punch into his chest and he went flying into the air. I got up and wiped blood away from my face. The cuts and punches seemed like they were everywhere and blood ran freely down my face. The wounds burned from the sand and salt water. Lucemon regained his balance in the air and began to come back down on me when there was a massive explosion. We both looked towards Pusan and saw as the entire side of the city ripped apart from the blast, throwing Devimon back into each other. Data flew everywhere as the entire front end of the attack was vaporized. Dread shot through me.

"Jennifer." I took off running down the beach, but Lucemon began to fly after me. Things were different though. I could… _feel_ the world around me—every detail, sight and sound. My surroundings seemed to go by in slow motion without blur. Everything was so sharp, so precise, so defined—the worlds were getting closer. I was getting closer to the data of the Digital World. I focused as much energy into my legs as possible and looked down. Light flew back from my shoes as I ran faster. Lucemon flew down, keeping up, but unable to catch me.

"Damn you." I turned my head and saw him staring at me, just out of arms reach. His mouth didn't move. "I will not allow you to interfere." I could hear his thoughts.

"Nothing will keep me from her Lucemon, nothing short of God himself." I thought to myself and could see Lucemon's eyes widen. He was experiencing the same effects as I was from the nearing dimensions.

"That won't be long then James. His rebirth is at hand." He finally gave up the chase and flew up. I looked back forward and saw the Devimon beginning to pour back through the city. I ran faster.

"I hope they're okay. I hope that wasn't the end. I hope…" My thoughts were cut off by a sudden grab of my arm, slinging me back in the direction I had been running from. I was lifted into the sky and turned about quickly, prepared to attack, thinking it was Lucemon. Instead I found Kristen looking at me. She smiled weakly but turned back forward.

"You're alive!" I yelled out, nearly hugging her. "Are you okay? Where is everybody else?"

"I've been better. As for everybody else, well…" She pointed her thumb over her shoulder and I looked back down Megakabuterimon's back. Joey lied moaning on the back of the bug, rivulets of blood slowly making its way down his face. He gripped onto a deep gash in Megakabuterimon's hard back. Beside him was Chris, looking out behind us towards the city. He bled, but didn't have nearly as many cuts as Joey. Out to our side flew Arashimon carrying a tired battered Agumon. Pieces of her armor were missing and she too had various cuts and gashes, along with Agumon. The searing pain that had dominated my face a moment ago seemed to fade upon seeing the others.

"I'm sorry we didn't get back in time." I looked down and Chris scooted towards Megakabuterimon's front so that I could hear him.

"Chill man. From what I hear we couldn't have made much of a difference." His face was grim.

"What was that explosion?"

"Daisy Cutter. Didn't you see the aircraft?" I shook my head. "Well look up!" I looked above the city and in the darkness, the heat from the thrusters of dozens of fighters and bombers could be made out. "Turns out there was an aircraft carrier nearby and that they could help. I think the Devimon have shifted towards it now though. Pusan will be safe until it's gone, but after that…"

"So we lost, completely. The entire Demon Corps hasn't even gotten here yet and we've lost."

"What do you mean?" Kristen stopped staring out in front like a pilot and turned around.

"You didn't see? That mass stretched all the way back to Japan." Kristen sighed painfully.

"I just don't see how we can stop this thing." She laid down on her partner's back.

"Hey, don't give up hope just yet. What kind of Digidestined of Hope would I be if I let you guys give up now?"

"A really crappy one." Arashimon dropped Agumon on Megakabuterimon's back and landed. She devolved and fell to her knees, weary from flying, fighting, and lack of food. "Where were you?"

"Fighting Lucemon." Everybody looked a little shocked.

"Then how in the world are you here right now?" Kristen sat up quickly and looked at me like I was a ghost.

"The reconfiguration link puts on about a level playing field. I may only be like a champion or ultimate to most digimon, but against him I'm a friggin high-end Mega. And you say that like I whipped him without breaking a sweat. He's still alive and well, and as you can see I took my fair share of blows." I pointed at the gashes on my face. Everybody went silent for a moment and stared into the darkness. We finally came out from under the dark clouds that seemed to accompany the Demon Corps and the night sky shined down on us, a full moon and starry sky out.

"Well what do we do now?" Chris finally broke the silence.

"I wanna go home." Joey whined, pulling himself towards us. I thought for a moment. If Joey's mom had been in Japan when the attack began then… I stopped. I didn't want to think about it or have to break the news to the young child.

"I want to go home too." Kristen looked down. We all began to think of home and life before becoming digidestined. "My dad's probably worried sick about me."

"Nah, remember? The UN was going to keep us there and return us to our homes until we broke away from them. They probably told our parents what had happened to us." Chris tried to speak in a forced, cheerful tone, but it was plain that he was homesick too. I looked at Jennifer. She just stared into the night sky, which seemed to be brighter than usual.

"There are too many stars out tonight." She spoke with a vacant, empty voice.

"There can never be too many stars Jen." I scooted over to her. If we hadn't just escaped a bloodbath, weren't all homesick, and weren't riding on the back of a giant bug, the sky would have been a really romantic sight.

"No James, seriously. There aren't that many stars visible from earth by the naked eye." She waved a pointed finger across the sky.

"Oh my god, she's right." Kristen looked up as well. Everybody else followed suit.

"Those must be digital stars then." I spoke as I looked at one star in particular. "The worlds are getting closer, I can feel it. The stars projected by data are visible now along with our own."

"Wow. It's beautiful, in an eerie sort of way." Jennifer didn't stop looking up.

"I hope we can see this again when we're done." I thought aloud.

"What?" Jennifer turned to me.

"Hmmm? Oh, nothing."


	30. Ch 25: String Theory

**Chapter 25: String Theory**

"Hold still! This will only hurt for a second." Jennifer rubbed Joey's wounds with some alcohol and he screamed.

"Stop! Please! Just leave them alone!"

"I have to or they'll get infected!" The rest of us were crowded around a fire we had built for the night. We had stolen some supplies from the now abandoned positions along the DMZ.

"Guys, I think we need to keep moving." I stood up and kicked a stick into the fire.

"Moving where? Can't you see we're all hurt!?" Kristen yelled at me.

"Yeah man, we need a break." Chris just lied on the ground, eyes closed.

"I know we're all tired, hurt, bleeding, and burning from the rubbing alcohol," Jennifer shot me a dirty look, "but if we don't go now the Devimon may catch up with us and there won't be much we can do." With the exception of Joey's whimpers from the alcohol, silence ensued. Tentomon finally pushed himself up from the ground.

"Don't worry about it Kristen, I can stand to fly a little farther." Agumon followed his lead.

"Same here; we don't always have to travel by air you know." Both struggled to just stand up though.

"Tentomon, don't try and protect him." Kristen turned and looked at her partner. "You need rest too, maybe more than any of us."

"But Kristen…"

"That's enough!" Kristen slammed her fist on the ground. "We have to get some rest or we're all useless no matter what we do!"

"Well, who says we have to travel on our digimon?" Chris sat up, his eyes wide open and a slight grin forming on his dirt covered face.

"You have an idea?" Agumon looked up at Chris.

"Well, we are in a military zone, right? There is bound to be at least some vehicles they didn't take. We could just take a few and drive!" Chris looked around at us as he spoke. Jennifer finished applying the rubbing alcohol and Joey quickly took a few steps away from her, just in case she 'missed a spot'.

"Or better yet, what if they left behind a helicopter?" I began to come up with ideas of my own.

"One problem with that: none of us are qualified or even remotely know how to fly a helicopter! You and Jennifer may be able to drive, but we can't see a thing as it is!" Kristen always seemed to know the possible problems with a plan.

"Oh flying a helicopter can't be that hard, and did you forget how bright the night sky is tonight?" I turned around and ran into the distance, looking for anything. It didn't take long before I found a jeep parked beside a building. Chris, Agumon, and Jennifer followed me. "Please…" I hopped in and found the key sitting in the ignition. I turned it and the jeep cranked right up. The motor was loud in the night and everybody else came running up upon hearing it.

"You sure you can drive this thing?" Jennifer asked as she hopped in the front passenger seat beside me.

"Hey, if it wasn't for that tornado I would have gotten you home in a heartbeat." I thought back to my Camaro and how it was probably totaled from the tornado. I winced at the thought and made sure everybody was piled in. Tentomon and Agumon had to sit in their partners' laps while Joey was squeezed between the two. "Please keep all limbs, objects, claws, wings, and whatever inside the vehicle at all times. If at some point you feel like you are about to hurl, please aim over the edge of the vehicle and refrain from hitting us."

"Shut up and go." Chris spoke blatantly, shifting about under Agumon's weight. "You need to go on a diet." Agumon suddenly looked like he wanted to murder Chris.

"You got ANY idea how long it's been since I've eaten anything!?" Chris thought for a moment and smiled nervously.

"Oh yeah…"

"Let's go." The headlights flickered to life and I pulled away from the building. I quickly found a dirt road and pulled out my digivice. "Okay, north, we're going the right way."

* * *

Everybody was fast asleep, their heads bobbing with every bump I hit. I was craving coffee, wishing that there had been some with the few supplies we had stolen from the DMZ. I had been driving all night and felt sleep tugging at me, but I didn't have the nerve to ask Jennifer to drive. The sun was beginning to peak over the horizon and I pulled down my shades to keep from getting blinded. I gripped a little harder onto the wheel and looked around. I had found my way onto a long, paved road in the middle of the night, but it didn't seem to lead anywhere except north, north, and further north into nothing. Mountains reached into the sky in the distance and I sped towards them. Behind us, clouds covered South Korea and slowly crawled up the peninsula. I turned back around and noticed something.

"What the hell is that?" Distorted waves rose off the road like you see on a hot summer day. Only, there was something behind the waves: grass. I brought the jeep to a halt and everybody was jolted forward.

"What's going on?" Chris opened his eyes and looked around groggily.

"I think the worlds are closer than I thought they were." I hopped over the door to the jeep and walked up. The road seemed to disappear and become replaced by a dead, brown grass. All along the road there were distorted patches of this, as well as in the trees beside it. I reached down and touched the hole in front of me and sure enough, touched grass. The hole became a little wider, small bolts of energy discharging around it, and I took a step back. "I don't like this. The Digital World and Earth are beginning to overlap." Chris sat up, now a little more attentive. Everybody else had shrugged off the jolt and fallen back asleep.

"You mean they're mixing?" He climbed out of the jeep and walked over to me.

"Yeah." I took a step forward to stand in the patch of grass and fell forward like I had just walked off a cliff.

"James!" I couldn't see anymore, it was like falling through the tornado from what seemed so long ago. A few moments later I hit the ground with a thud. I looked up from the ground and could see again. Now, instead of mountains in the distance and holes of grass, I was in a wide open plain filled with dead grass, with splotches of pavement stretching along where the road had been just a moment ago. I could still hear Chris' cries, but they sounded miles away.

"Dude, is this… this Digital World?" I looked around. The sky was a slate grey, even through there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I didn't see the sun or anything, it was just… grey. The brown, dry grass waved slightly as a cold wind blew across the rolling hills of the plain. I looked back at the holes. Some of them were pavement from where the road should be, but there were others off to the sides that were completely different. Some looked like water, others like sand, and a single one looked like it was carpeted. "If stepping in one hole in the real world brought me here, then stepping in a hole here would… I stepped onto the carpet and fell again... only up this time. When the winds cleared I was firmly on both feet.

The portal had emerged in a dark room with tables all around. The blinds on the windows were open, but no light fell through; it was night outside. I saw posters hanging on the walls and televisions hanging from the ceiling, aimed at the tables around the edges of the room so that people sitting there could watch them. Too bad the room was empty. I looked up at a neon sign that was turned off that said "Bud Light" on it. I ran over to a window and looked outside. A bright starry sky lit up the dark city, lighting up the well paved streets and few homeless people who lied in an alley.

"Oh man, I've got to get the others." I ran back to the portal I had come through and whooshed back to the Digital World. There, I stepped on the pavement and in a few moments was looking at Chris.

"What happened!?" He rushed up to me from the jeep, where he had woken everybody up.

"I think I just found a way home. Everybody in the jeep." Everybody got back in and I cranked shifted it into gear, slowly crawling towards the hole. "I hope this works." When the tire hit the portal, the entire jeep seemed to fall the way I had, except that it stayed upright. A few seconds later, we landed in the Digital World and realized how good the shocks on the jeep really were. Joey shoved Kristen out of the way and hung over the edge of the jeep, heaving loudly. We all cringed as he did so. When he was finished, he pulled himself back in, wiping his pale face.

"What… just happened?" He plopped back down between Kristen and Chris.

"The worlds are so close now that they are becoming connected. Thus: wormholes." Kristen's face lit up while everybody else just looked at me confusedly.

"Oh my god we just did what people have questioned the existence of for nearly fifty years we just made history I can't believe it!!!" Kristen quickly looked about, running her sentences together in excitement.

"Chill Kristen, I don't think the people who research things like this would get quite as worked up as you. Everybody ready for part two?" I turned the jeep and drove into the carpeted hole and we were ripped into the classy bar I had been in just a moment ago. The jeep knocked a table out of the way and Joey looked like he was going to be sick again, but there was nothing left to send up.

"Please…" he burped, "don't do that… again."

"Where are we?" Agumon looked around at the bar as I opened the door to the jeep and climbed out.

"We're in a bar in some western city." I went to open the door and an alarm went off. "Shit."

"Oh no! It's a trap!" Tentomon panicked and flew out of the jeep while everybody jumped over the edges. Chris picked up a chair and threw it through a window before I could stop him.

"Idiot! I have the door open!" Chris turned red.

"Oops, guess I got caught in the excitement." The people sitting across the street watched as we all ran out of the bar and onto the sidewalk.

"This way!" Jennifer pointed to our right and we all ran towards the downtown of the city. Lights shined everywhere and I looked around.

"What is so familiar about all this?" I looked around and finally noticed something on the sidewalk as we rounded a corner to another street. "We're in Hollywood!" Stars lined the sidewalk of the Walk of Fame.

"Hey, you're right! I'm home!" Chris jumped up and down.

"We can celebrate later, come on!" Kristen grabbed him by the arm and jerked him down the street as we ran. Sirens could be heard in the distance.

"If they see us they'll pull over in a heartbeat!" Jennifer stopped and looked around. "Quick, in the bushes!" We all dived into some shrubs that sat between a building and the sidewalk. The patrol car turned the corner we had just come from and rode towards the bar.

"Chris, where do you live?" I turned to him. He was trying to look over the bushes to see if the cops were gone.

"Way out on the outskirts, nowhere near here." I looked back above the bushes.

"Come on, there ought to be some hotels this way." I fought my way out of the bushes and everybody followed.

"How do you know?" Jennifer turned to me.

"I did a research project on Hollywood in the eighth grade. We had to make an entire travel package to learn how to do extensive research on a subject or place. The Hollywood-Roosevelt should be just over… here." I was right. In a matter of minutes we were across the lit street from it and calmly crossed, trying not to arouse suspicion. We walked inside to the massive lobby, which made the hotel in Korea look like a Motel 6. "Over here." We walked up to the night receptionist and he looked at us, nearly laughing.

"Can I help you?"

"We need a room." I thought about it for a second and decided I didn't want to spend another two hundred dollars like I had before. "Just a regular room with two beds—nothing fancy."

"Alright, just a moment." The receptionist walked through a door behind the reception desk. I turned around and leaned on the counter and looked at everybody.

"No wonder he almost laughed, we look ridiculous." We were all filthy, covered in a mix of dried mud, dirt, dust, and blood.

"You're no prize catch yourself." Jennifer waved at me. I looked just as bad as they did, caked in blood and dirt. The receptionist came back and handed me a key. I paid for the room and we all went up to it. Everybody took showers and put on the same dirty clothes. "I hate this." Jennifer looked at her scuffed boots, filthy jeans, and t-shirt. "Don't they have laundry here?"

"But we don't have anything else to wear." Joey interrupted her. "We would be walking around in our underwear."

"I guess you're right." Jennifer looked defeated and sat down.

"Guys, aren't you forgetting? We're in my hometown. We can all go to my house, I'll run things over with my parents, and we can go out and buy some new clothes!" Chris still couldn't get over the fact that he was home.

"In the morning." I threw myself down on a bed. "I'm beat." I passed out while everybody else argued over what clothes they were going to get.


	31. Ch 26: Doppelgangers

**Chapter 26: Doppelgangers**

"I thought you lived here! You should know where the hell we are!" I yelled at Chris as we meandered through the neighborhood. Everybody, except me, had bought new clothes at my expense. I thought about how quickly my "College Fund" was drying up and winced. Jennifer had bought some sneakers, a pair of blue jeans, and a pink tank-top. Kristen wore blue jeans and a white shirt with a blue jean jacket over it. She still looked really tomboyish. Joey had just gotten a new pair of shorts to replace his tattered jeans. Chris had bought a red jersey, trying to look gangsta, but just came off looking hilarious so long as the goggles rested on his head. On the other hand, I know they would have laughed at the sight of me standing in a navy-colored bathrobe, waiting for my clothes to wash in the hotel Laundromat.

"Everything looks the same!" Chris yelled back in a mix of frustration and humiliation.

"Well you could have told us ahead of time and we would have gotten a map!" As we crossed another street, Kristen stopped us and pointed down it.

"Chris, is that your house over there?" She pointed down to a house with a large, white, NBC van parked in the driveway. The plain white stood out against stucco of the houses.

"No it…" Chris stopped and looked harder. "Yeah! How'd you know!?"

"We've been missing for how long now? Not to mention we were brought to the UN and commanded troops from two countries. Where else would all the news networks be?" Kristen answered Chris, but with a slight tinge of sarcasm. I tried to count how long we had been gone, but finally lost count of how many days and gave up.

"I dunno, probably about a month. And it was late April when we left so…" Kristen cut me off.

"It's late May or early June now. We missed the tail end of the school year." Kristen realized what she had said and a defeated look spread quickly over her face. "How am I going to get into college with this!?"

"Kristen, just be happy if you live long enough to worry about college, now come on!" Chris sprinted forward towards his house and we all followed. He shouted as we rounded the van. "MOM!!! DAD!!!"

"What's that?" We could hear a deep voice from inside and a moment later the front door opened as we dashed across the small yard. "Chris? CHRIS!!!" Chris tackled his father and knocked him down. Inside Chris' mom jumped up from the couch she sat in and dashed over to her son as he pushed himself from the ground.

"Oh my god I was so worried about you where have you been are you okay I'm sorry for not letting you inside you're in big trouble mister!!!" Agumon laughed at the sight of Chris and his mom. She hugged him tightly, pushed him away to get a look at him, and then backed off and scolded him.

"Calm down Nancy, just be glad he's home and…" While the emotional homecoming had been happening, the cameraman had just been busily filming. A familiar looking man in a business suit stood behind the cameraman, whispering in his ear.

"Please tell me you're getting this."

"Absolutely Mr. Williams." We stood outside watching patiently; nobody seemed to notice the rest of us until Joey finally spoke up.

"Can we please come in too? It's really hot out here." Joey asked in a mix of innocence and impatience, leaning in the doorway. Chris' father nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Joey's voice and turned around. He was a tall man that wore a business suit and a tie much like the reporter's. He looked like he had just come home from work.

"Who are you?" He looked over us and finally noticed Tentomon floating just beside Kristen's head. His eyes widened. "That's the biggest mosquito I've ever seen. Don't move; I'll get the spray." He leaned slowly beside the door.

"Wait!" Kristen yelled at Chris' father as he stood back up and leveled the can of Bug-B-Gone at Tentomon.

"Kristen, what's a mosq… YEOWCH!!!" The spray burned Tentomon's eyes and he fell to the ground.

"It talks!?"

"Yes and he isn't just a bug! He's a digimon!"

"A what?"

"And in a sudden turn of events, the missing children who broke out of UN custody have turned up here in this Los Angeles suburb, along with a pair of creatures similar to those that have leveled Japan and Korea. Young man!" The reporter weaved his way around Chris' dad, Kristen, and the others, the cameraman in tow. "Could you explain these creatures?" He leveled the microphone in my face, catching me completely off guard.

"Um… well, they're called digimon, which is short for Digital Monsters. They're the physical forms of the data that all computers, calculators, and so on generate. This isn't live is it?"

"Actually, yes it is. Could you please explain the two with you? Why and how have you attained the company of creatures that as we speak are tearing our world apart?"

"Well, not all digimon are evil. To be honest, most aren't. But recent events have caused the most evil ones to attack both our world and the Digital World." I screamed at myself in my mind for mentioning the Digital World. How many questions was he going to ask me now?

"I'm sorry, but we're going to have to stop you for a moment. But both of you please stay ready for more questions over there in Los Angeles." A voice blared out of the camera; I assumed it was the anchor back in the NBC studio.

"Will do; back to you." The reporter stared at the camera for a moment before the cameraman made a cutting motion with his hand across the neck, signaling they were off. The reporter sighed and turned. "Thank you young man, you just won me an Emmy."

"Yeah, sure." I turned and looked back and looked at the chaos behind me. Chris was calming his parents and introducing Agumon, as well as everybody else. Neighbors that had been watching MSNBC all had come crashing out of their houses to see us in person. The calamity lured out everybody else.

"We're in for a long day aren't we?" Jennifer maneuvered her way over to me.

"Absolutely."

(---) (---) (---)

"Terra Destroyer!" The massive orb of energy came crashing down from Blackwargreymon's claws and barreled down to Seraphimon. The great angel dodged the attack like he had all the rest, but he was worn out from the fight while Blackwargreymon showed no signs of fatigue. Seraphimon landed and breathed heavily for a couple of seconds, but Blackwargreymon quickly dived down from the dark sky, tearing at Seraphimon with his claws. Finally, Seraphimon collapsed to the ground, lying on his back. His armor was devastated and he struggled to hold himself together.

"This… is impossible. How could you… have so much… power?" Seraphimon choked out a few words.

"In the face of the dark god you are nothing. He has bestowed me power beyond you wildest dreams, along with the data I absorbed from your other two angel friends." Seraphimon shuddered.

"You bastard."

"Don't worry, you'll be meeting them soon enough. Terra Destroyer!" Blackwargreymon jumped into the air and sent another blast of energy at Seraphimon. The great angel tried to get up, but no longer had the energy to move, let alone dodge the massive ball of fiery energy that was falling upon him. Finally, the blast hit Seraphimon, blowing the great angel into a wide cloud of data; all that remained was a deep crater in the scorched earth. Blackwargreymon absorbed the data quickly and looked about him. "Master! Is there no other opponent for me to face here?" Blackwargreymon screamed into the distance, summoning Daemon. He flew up quickly and looked at his warrior.

"You have done well. No, there is no other; the Digital World is ours." Blackwargreymon growled in anger. "But there are still fighters for you to take on. Remember the humans that used you, the ones that tricked you into sealing off the Digital World from their world?"

"Yes, has my chance for revenge finally come?"

"Are you ready to meet your next opponent, to conquer another world?"

"I am ready when you say I am ready." Blackwargreymon kneeled. He was infinitely loyal to Daemon, and it showed in his demeanor.

"Good." Daemon swiped his scythe down through the air, leaving behind a glowing rip in the fabric of space. It widened into a portal and Blackwargreymon stood up. He looked at Daemon, who simply nodded. Blackwargreymon jumped through the portal and it closed quickly behind him. Daemon looked around himself and watched the waves wash upon the black shores of the continent. "Now, we are on the western coast of northern Driver. That would mean he should emerge on the west coast of North America." Daemon laughed to himself. "Excellent, we'll invade from all rims of the Pacific. I wonder what the humans will think when I make it another dark ocean." He laughed hysterically and blasted into the distance, quickly leaving behind the spot where the last good Digimon had fallen.

(---) (---) (---)

"Okay, everybody all together now… We hate the pa-pa-razzi…" We all sung in unison, mocking the reporters who all stood outside. Chris' dad had planned on grilling hamburgers, per our request, but there were too many reporters surrounding the house to do so. Therefore, we got stuck with more noodles: Hamburger Helper. Everybody, including Chris' parents, leaned to the left and right in unison to the mediocre tune, echoing my lead.

"Hey, do you think that your parents saw you on the news?" Chris brought up the idea as he shoved a fork of Hamburger Helper into his mouth.

"Probably, that's all my dad ever watches." Jennifer was leaning back in her chair. I thought she would fall over, but somehow, she didn't.

"Not mine. He watches Fox News." Chris' parents gave me a weird look and I jumped to cover my blunder. "I mean… have you ever tried watching it? They can't even get themselves to say 'Fair and Balanced'! 'Fox News; fair and b…lah ha ha ha ha ha!'" Everybody laughed except for Kristen; she muttered something under her breath. "What's that?"

"Don't be a blind Democrat." That wasn't what she had muttered, but it was the same idea.

"Please, I'm a Republican, all the way. Therefore, I reserve the right to make fun of my parties' affiliated news network." Everybody laughed again.

"I don't see how you can be a Republican." Chris' father finally spoke up to me. He was still getting around to knowing everybody. "Look at what Bush has done to our country and Iraq!"

"Hey now," I put down the fork of food I was about to eat, "I rooted for McCain so just calm down." I polished off my plate and pushed away from the table. "My compliments to the chef."

"Thank you." Chris' mom smiled and I brought my plate to her. "Would you please go turn on the television in the living room? Let's see if we're still the biggest news." I knew we had to be, but I did it anyways. I found the Dish Satellite remote and turned on the TV with it. "Oooh, an All-In-One remote." I flipped quickly to MSNBC and watched. I started in the middle of a stand-up.

"…still have yet to answer the questions of the media or any other organization for that matter. We'll continue to wait and bring you the latest information when it becomes available." It was a woman correspondent standing out in front of Chris' house.

"Thank you Julie. Now we go to Don Coward, who is covering the bizarre events unfolding just north of downtown Los Angeles. Don?" The picture switched to the studio, then to a middle-aged man standing in the middle of some dry looking trees. There were police cars and fire trucks parked about the forest.

"We have just received some new information, but for those just tuning in let's restate what has happened in the past hour. At 6:03 PM, local Doppler radars picked up a disturbance that formed suddenly a few miles north of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Meteorologist quickly determined that the disturbance was not weather based, nor was it a technical difficulty. A report was phoned in to the LAPD at around 6:28 that a tall, large, black, armored creature was quickly moving south towards the city. Within fifteen minutes, the police barricade you see behind me was in place, along with fire crews, not knowing what to expect. Just ten minutes ago, at 6:50 PM, military satellite photos quickly made public identified the creature as a digimon, the race of alien creatures that over the past week have completely destroyed both Japan and Korea, and from our most recent reports, are making headway into Manchuria, moving quickly without any effective resistance." A map of the Far East popped up on the television with arrows leading from Odaiba, Japan, throughout the island, and then over to the Korean peninsula, and then up it. "We expect direct contact with the lone digimon within the next few minutes." The satellite photos were shown on the screen, clearly showing Blackwargreymon moving quickly through the dry hills.

"Everybody! We've gotta go! NOW!!!" I whipped around and yelled at the others, who were still lingering about the kitchen table. "Blackwargreymon is headed this way!" Everybody quickly jumped up from the table, hurdling over chairs and the corners, nearly knocking the entire thing over.

"Wait! What is the Blackwar-thingy?" Chris' mom chased after us as we headed to the door.

"Mom, you and dad need to get out of here. Go up to Aunt Janice's house or something for a while. I'll meet you there if I can and if I can't… I'll call." Chris' mom began to object, but his father put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"You go and do what you have to son." Chris gave him a reckless smirk.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be okay." He gave his father a thumbs-up and his father gave one back. We opened the door, nearly ripping it off its hinges, and split through the paparazzi mob. We were bombarded by questions, flashes, and microphones, but ignored them. "Okay guys! Screw the cover up stuff! We've got a job to do! Kristen?" Chris turned around once we were all in the street.

"Right! Ready Tentomon?"

"Let's go!" Tentomon flew up a short ways and Kristen pulled out her digivice. "Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon digivolve to… Megakabuterimon!!" The digivolutions ran right upon each other and in an instant, we were all on Megakabuterimon's back. The reporters kept a large distance between themselves and the bug as we took off towards the north. In a handful of moments we had cruised over the expansive city, quickly reaching the police roadblock. We hovered above it and saw Blackwargreymon approaching, a trail of heat waves coming off the road behind him. Daemon had been right; his very existence distorted space. One cop pulled out a megaphone.

"Stop where you are or we'll open fire!" Blackwargreymon kept running as if he didn't hear him. He was just a football field away now. "Fire!" Pistols were unleashed on the dark, armored dragon, but the bullets just bounced off without so much as leaving a dent.

"It's our turn!" Kristen shouted and pointed down at Blackwargreymon. "Attack!" Megakabuterimon dived down and we jumped off when we were close enough to the ground.

"Horn Buster!" Megakabuterimon dived horn first at Blackwargreymon. Blackwargreymon stopped, looked up, and caught the speeding bug's horn, getting pushed back an inch, but no more.

"Um… guys?" Kristen's eyes widened and Blackwargreymon laughed. The cops at the blockade all ran, leaving behind their patrol cars, pistols, everything. Blackwargreymon turned around and slung Megakabuterimon into the sky, leaving us to watch Kristen and her partner fly into the distance. They were barely visible when they finally stopped.

"You heard her! Let's go!" Chris brought us back to our senses and everybody, except me of course, pulled out their digivices.

"Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kazemon digivolve to… Arashimon!"

"Agumon digivolve to… Greymon digivolve to… Metalgreymon!"

"Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kumamon digivolve to… Polamon!"

"James digivolve to… kid armed with a charged gun!" I joked and dived behind a patrol car, grabbing hold of a pistol as I did. The others easily jumped over the cars, standing between them and Blackwargreymon.

"I thought I was supposed to get a challenge. You digidestined never learn. Terra Destroyer!" Blackwargreymon charged up and threw the blast down at the three. Megakabuterimon was still in the distance. Everybody scattered and dodged the stop, leaving me to get blown away with the cars in the concussion.

"Alright, let's show him who he's messing with!" Chris yelled from Metalgreymon's back.

"Giga Blaster!"

"Hailstorm!"

"Fujita Cannon!" The attacks flew at Blackwargreymon and pelted him from all angles. When the smoke cleared though, he stood just as he had before, only floating above the crater below where he had stood. I pushed myself up, pistol in hand, and leveled it at him.

"I hope it works for good guys too!" I focused and energy flowed quickly into the barrel. I pulled the trigger and the bullet ripped out of the barrel with such force that I was knocked down by the recoil. A blast of energy cruised with it, leaving behind a trail of light that stayed for a few seconds. The bullet drove into Blackwargreymon and light poured out over the area, blinding everybody for a moment. I could feel the data around us change, so for a few seconds, I thought I had actually hurt him, until I saw him sprinting at me through the fading light. "Shit!"

"James!" Arashimon flew down with her arm outreached. I grabbed hold and was swooped out of Blackwargreymon's dive. She let me go, slinging me down the street. I landed with a thud and yelped in pain. Arashimon turned around and aimed another shot at Blackwargreymon. "Fujita Cannon!" The blast flew at him, winds and all, but the steel beast didn't even slow down. Blackwargreymon backhanded Arashimon in midair and grabbed hold of her before she could get any distance from the blow. With a single throw, Blackwargreymon hurled Arashimon into the ground, driving her deep into the asphalt. Megakabuterimon finally was back from the first attack.

"Horn Buster!" The bug dove on Blackwargreymon again, but this time he just jumped into the air, letting him crash into the ground. While Megakabuterimon was pulling his horn out of the ground, Blackwargreymon attacked.

"Terra Destroyer!" Kristen saw the shot coming and quickly jumped off her partner. It didn't matter though. The blast drove deep into Megakabuterimon, forcing him to devolve, and tossed Kristen into one of the overturned patrol cars. She hit her head and fell unconscious, her partner knocked out and borderline destroyed. Polamon and Metalgreymon aimed their attacks uneasily. I was getting to my feet, unable to keep my balance from Arashimon's sling.

"Slashing Snowstorm!"

"Giga Blaster!" The missiles drove along with the wind, the glowing blue arcs of energy and snow glittering brightly in the flames from the rockets. They hit Blackwargreymon dead on and he was thrown back a few feet, but wasn't hurt.

"Give me a challenge!!!" Blackwargreymon screamed at the two and dashed forward, his claws leveled at the two. Polamon pulled out his blades and Metalgreymon held up his steel arm. Meanwhile, I stood up and noticed that Jennifer had devolved. Blackwargreymon cleaved clear through the steel arm of Blackwargreymon, but Polamon was able to parry his attack and jump over him, slashing his back and leaving two long, but shallow, cuts in Blackwargreymon's armor. Metalgreymon screamed in pain and devolved to Agumon, letting Chris fall to the ground behind him. Agumon gripped his claw and continued yelling as a mixture of glowing data and blood fell from where it had been. Meanwhile, Blackwargreymon twirled around and slashed Polamon across the back as he landed from his attack. Polamon's Hailstorm Cannons all were cut clear off and the iron plate on his back barely protected him.

"Slashi…" Blackwargreymon kneed the bear and sent him flying. Joey devolved before he hit the ground.

"Is that all?"

"You sick sorry son of a bitch! How could you do this to him!?" Chris screamed at Blackwargreymon as he tried to calm Agumon, but it was futile.

"My apologies; I'll end it for him right now." Blackwargreymon took a step forward, but slipped just barely as another pair of bullets hit him. He quickly regained his footing, but I was already beside Agumon and Chris.

"Hold him still!" I threw down the guns and grabbed hold of Agumon's partially cleaved paw.

"Easier targets. Terra Destroy…"

"Stall him!" I screamed at Chris, but he was already on his way. He picked up two of the pistols and started unloading. Bullets bounced off of Blackwargreymon, but his aim was thrown off by the distraction.

"…er!" The blast flew past Agumon and I, hitting the ground about ten yards away. Wind and chunks of asphalt blew against us while Agumon screamed in pain. I focused and felt Agumon's data break apart a little around his arm. His screams stopped, replaced by a choking sound as he tried to breathe, but couldn't.

"Calm down." I closed my eyes and could see the digital code. There were holes in it and I focused energy where the data had been destroyed. The energy took the form of data by itself and I let go, opening my eyes. Agumon gasped and looked at his arm, good as new.

"Wow… Chris!" Agumon looked over at Chris just as he was kneed in the chest like Polamon. Chris flew back, but never hit the ground. Chris' digivice exploded in a violent red light that flowed over everything. Winds blew about and the temperature skyrocketed, as if the entire world had just burst aflame. The light faded just enough to allow the intense glow from the Crest of Courage to shine through as it reformed—tag and all.

"Agumon warp digivolve to… Wargreymon!" Wargreymon caught Chris and put him down.

"Ow… easy." Chris cringed and grabbed his chest, the wind knocked out of him.

"You stay here. This is my fight now." Wargreymon put Chris on the ground slowly and turned to his dark counterpart. I felt the same change I had earlier when I had attacked Blackwargreymon. "You wanted a challenge? Well now you've got it! Terra Force!"

"Terra Destroyer!" The two blasts hit each other, creating what seemed like a small nuclear blast. As it crushed towards Chris and I, his digivice lit up again and he jumped from the ground, his injuries gone. The Crest of Courage glowed and the blast seemed to just wave over us, creating what looked like a bubble where the blast just didn't go. When the radiation cleared, the two Wargreymon were clashing against each other. Every few throws, one would hit the other, but only to be hit back a few seconds later. Finally, the feeling I had been having became too clear.

"Chris! We have to get everybody out of here now!"

"But," Chris' voice echoed from everywhere, "we're winning!"

"Just do it!" I crouched down and picked up one of the pistols that Chris had dropped, found it was empty, and picked up the other gun, which still had two or three bullets left. By the time I was finished, Lucemon was bearing down on me with his lance just as he had in Korea. Chris turned around from watching the Wargreymon fight and the Crest of Courage blinded Lucemon. He veered off course and landed, swinging his lance madly. I took a few steps back to avoid his wild attacks and lowered my shades from the top of my head so I could see through the glaring red light.

"So everybody seems to be fighting themselves." Lucemon finally stopped swinging, holding his arm across his eyes. "Do you not like what you all are anymore?"

"Yeah well there were doubles in Dickens too." I leveled the pistol at Lucemon, who stumbled in the light. "Guess who won."

"BOOM!!!" The shot rang out, clearing through the red light and slamming into Lucemon violently. He was only able to stand where he was and take the blow.

"Ugh… what… was that!?"

"Tell Daemon I said thank you for telling me about focusing and inanimate objects." I fired again. This time the bullet bored into Lucemon and he screamed. It was more like a deafening roar though, finally clearing out the red light. Blood and data spurted from where the bullet had driven into Lucemon.

"You'll pay dearly for that. Duality!" The orbs of dark and light flew at me and I dived out of the way as they collided together, creating the large, odd looking sphere of energy that collided continuously on itself inside. Huge, metal looking plates rotated around it, the intricate runes on them glowing from the reacting energy within. Chris and Wargreymon had been well out of the way, fighting Blackwargreymon. "Blackwargreymon!" Lucemon called out to his ally. "Let's finish this!"

"Right!" Blackwargreymon punched Wargreymon in the chest and jumped into the air, while Lucemon flew out of my reach to meet him. The two called out in unison, aiming down at us.

"Terra Duality!" The light and dark orbs of energy combined with Blackwargreymon's massive blast and caused it to become unstable.

"Everybody brace yourselves!" I screamed as the blast came down on us.

"This is it!" Chris threw his arms over his head to protect himself.

"Hold on!" Wargreymon ran and stood between Chris and the blast.

Just as it hit, an incredibly violent wind blew against me. It was like the wormholes from earlier, but much more chaotic and unstable, probably from the blast. I felt like I was spontaneously combusting from Blackwargreymon's and Lucemon's attacks and finally blacked out.


	32. Ch 27: Radar Love

**Chapter 27: Radar Love**

"This is all that remains of the once expansive city of Los Angeles. The President has declared the entire state of California a disaster area, fearing that the other cities of the region will face the same fate." The sound of a television seemed to pound in my ears. I opened my eyes and saw one sitting across from a familiar looking coffee table. The television showed a picture of Los Angeles, or where it used to be. It looked like Hiroshima after it had been nuked. I pushed myself off the ground and stood up. On a couch opposite of the television was Gennai.

"Oh, it's good to see somebody is awake. Hurry up and pull that little 'pick me up' trick of yours on the others and go." Gennai looked tired and old. Bags stretched under his eyes as he slouched on the couch, gazing at the destruction of LA.

"Gennai?" I blinked a few times and kept looking at him. "What… what am I doing here?"

"Between that blast, the thin space between the worlds, and the protective power of the digivices, you all were thrown from the real world to the digital world. I saw what was about to happen and made sure that you all wound up here." Gennai spoke softly, without the strong, steady voice he had once yelled at us with for coming in with shoes. I looked back at the TV. It panned across where the Hollywood sign had once been in silence.

"Is that…"

"Yes, it is. You're all lucky that the worlds are so close; otherwise, you all would just be shadows.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I can't make them show it, but the heat and energy became so great at the epicenter that it left permanent shadows, carbon outlines, of those within a few miles of it."

"Did Chris' parents get out okay?" Gennai sighed heavily and looked down a little. "Should we tell him?"

"He's smarter than you all give him credit for. It will be the first thing he asks when you wake him up. Now go and work your charm like I said." Gennai was getting frustrated.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you remember?"

"Yeah, rewriting Agumon's data. You want me to do that to the others?"

"As of right now, they are made up of data too. They may be a little more complicated, but it doesn't really matter how much you know about data, your energy and subconscious do the trick and you know that." I sighed and turned around. The others were scattered about the side of the living room, leaning against the walls. Wargreymon had devolved to Koromon and looked okay, so I didn't bother him. I leaned down to Chris and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Okay, this is just like before." I focused and closed my eyes. Chris' data was mostly intact, except for one spot. "I wonder what that is supposed to be?" I focused harder and energy went into its place. A minute later, the data was repaired and I stood up. I kicked Chris and he mumbled before realizing what was going on.

"What the… Wargreymon!" He jumped up and looked around. "Where are we?"

"Gennai's house, just go over there. You need to see something." Chris gave me a weird look and jogged over to the couch, plopping down on it. I could hear Gennai whispering something to him, pointing at the television. I couldn't hear and turned away, moving on to the next person: Joey. His data was damaged more heavily, but healed just as fast. I stood up and nudged him. "Wake up short man." He looked at me and his eyes widened when he realized we weren't fighting Blackwargreymon. "Just go sit over there." He nodded, still looking around at Gennai's house in amazement. I heard Chris jump up, his voice shaky.

"No, no way man. I told them to get out of town and they did, alright! They're fine! They're at Aunt Janice's house! I'll just call them when I can!"

"Chris…"

"No! Shut up! You don't have any idea what you are talking about!" Chris ran in a stumbled panic down the hall, still screaming at Gennai. I sighed and moved on to Kristen. Her head looked terrible, bearing details that would have made me nauseous before our journey began. It took a little longer to repair her data, but when I was done and stood up, the blood that had been on her face remained.

"Wake up party girl." Kristen's eyes snapped open and she bent over and moaned, grabbing her head. "Yeah, you'll probably have a hangover for a while." I laughed weakly and helped her up. She walked over and sat down where Chris had been a moment ago; Gennai had followed him into one of the bedrooms. Tentomon had a deep hole in his back that was disgusting. I quickly repaired his data and picked him up.

"James? Where's Kristen?"

"Over there." I tossed him and he caught flight in midair, floating over to Kristen. I finally reached Jennifer. She was covered in bruises and cuts from the asphalt. I repaired her data without saying anything and she woke up.

"Where are we?"

"Gennai's, we were blown here by Lucemon and Blackwargreymon." She knew what always happened when Lucemon showed up.

"Are you okay?"

"Of course I am. I'm going through that 'invincible teenager' phase with a vengeance." I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "As for Los Angeles though…"

* * *

We all sat on the couch awaiting Gennai's orders. Everybody was really depressed from the destruction of Los Angeles, but none more than Chris. He just sort of leaned back on the couch, slouched, in a lethargic state. If it wasn't for a pulse, I would have thought him dead.

"I know you all are… disappointed… at the loss of Los Angeles, but you need to move quickly. The worlds are close enough now that portals are forming anywhere between them and stronger signals are passing between, as shown by the television." He motioned to the TV, which was now turned off. "There are a few events that you should know about before going back though, that will come as very bad news. I'm afraid our time is almost up."

"What is it Gennai. What could be worse than what has already happened?" Kristen was frustrated and angry about losing.

"First of all, the Daemon Corps have almost advanced across Asia thanks to the counter-efforts of China."

"What? How so fast?" My voice rose in shock at how quickly Daemon had moved across the continent. "What happened?"

"With the blessing of the United Nations, China attempted to wipe out the Daemon Corp with nuclear weapons. However, they met the same fate as the fleet that Fuzenmon took out. The nukes all flew towards their targets for a while, but eventually turned around and hit major cities. If you think Los Angeles was the only place wiped out, you should see China and the rest of South and Southeast Asia. Beijing, Canton, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Delhi, New Delhi; nearly every major city was leveled. Daemon just sent a cleanup-crew to polish off whatever was left. After that, the cleanup force continued southeast towards Australia while the main force drove west towards the Middle East. Blackwargreymon and Lucemon haven't been seen or heard from since your fight with them."

"So how do we get back to our world? Do we have to go back to the gate at Myotismon's castle?" Jennifer shifted about in the couch, her back still hurting from the asphalt.

"No. Now that the worlds are close enough, you can simply get back through my computer. I've been able to reconstruct a gate through it." Gennai walked over to his computer and moved the mouse, causing the monitor to flicker to life. "Come over here and hold your digivices up to the monitor." We quickly rushed over, except for Chris who took his time, and pulled out our digivices. We held them up to the screen and sure enough, a computerized portal appeared, with a small screen showing where we would pop out.

"Where is that?" Joey looked at the screen.

"That's my room!!!" My eyes lit up at the sight of my TV, resting on a set of chest of drawers across from my bed, which sat under a window to the left side of the room. Posters and pennants cluttered the walls. "Let's go!!!" I yelled and the light on the screen beside the picture of the other side turned green. Instantly, we were all pulled through. I could feel wind blasting against me as we passed between the two worlds. When I finally emerged in my room, I had a split second to realize the impending disaster. I held out my arms to push my computer chair away, but it was no good. We all fell on top of each other, with me on the bottom. "Ow, my leg!" I yelled out under the weight of everybody. The chair finally slipped away and I fell all the way to the ground. "Please get off."

"Sorry!" Joey hopped off the top of the dog pile and everybody got to their feet. I got up last and looked around. My room was just as I remembered it, all the way down to the Marines poster I had gotten in sixth grade for doing some pull-ups at the state fair.

"Mom!? Dad!?" I yelled and ran out of my room, but nobody responded. I went into the living room and looked around. "I guess they aren't here." Everybody came out of my room and looked around. "Make yourselves at home! I'll just call my Dad's cell phone." Everybody sat down on the old, brown couches and just waited, wondering what to do.

"So where are we exactly?" Joey looked around. "This isn't anything like my home." The ceiling rose up far higher than what was needed in the living room, making it look cavernous. Huge windows filled the space between the ceiling and the doors on the ends of the room, letting in the light of the rising sun, which blinded Kristen and Tentomon on a love seat that faced the back. I picked up a cordless phone and walked into the kitchen, dialed my dad's cell phone, and waited as it ringed. Finally, he picked up.

"Who is this?" My dad asked in a frustrated, angry voice.

"It's me dad." I spoke coolly and leaned against the fridge. Silence ensued as he seemed to choke on words.

"James?"

"None other." What followed was a mixed flow of relief, anger, and tears from the other side of the phone that I couldn't comprehend. I could hear my mom shouting in the background 'Oh my god' and could hear her trying to snatch the phone from my dad, but other than that it was just chaos. Finally my dad calmed down enough to say one quick thing.

"I'll be right there." He hung up and I laughed.

"Okay guys, they'll be here in a few minutes." I smiled as I walked around the corner back into the living room. "You hungry? I promise you, we have no noodles here."

* * *

"You are impossible!" Blackwargreymon roared at Lucemon as the fallen angel kicked over a rock. "Why don't we lay waste to these lands!? We are more than capable!"

"Because," Lucemon talked calmly, unmoved by Blackwargreymon's impatient rage, "only Daemon knows how to directly tamper with data. If we show up again, the humans are sure to fire nuclear weapons at us, and you saw what they did to Asia. Only, we have no way of stopping them." Lucemon looked around at the ruin of Los Angeles. They were both sitting under an overhang that used to be the roof of a building. It was held up by two battered walls and a pillar on the open corner. Lucemon was deep in thought. Blackwargreymon growled to himself and sat in silence for a moment before talking again.

"What about the digidestined?" He hit a nerve.

"What about them?" Lucemon's voice lowered. He was still furious at me about the bullet. He had long since removed it and healed, but it bothered him that he could be hurt by a mere human, a digidestined, but a human nonetheless.

"They are the only thing that stands in our way! If we take them out now, it won't matter how many nuclear weapons the humans use, or even if we are destroyed. There will be nothing to stop his recreation!" Lucemon thought to himself for a minute.

"True, but they aren't in this world anymore." Lucemon closed his eyes.

"What!?"

"The worlds are close, very close. Our attack blew them to the Digital World. I can't tell where they are across planes of existence… yet. We'll just have to wait." Lucemon leaned against the pillar and crossed his arms and the two sat in silence for another handful of minutes. Suddenly, Blackwargreymon turned to the east. Lucemon opened his eyes and looked in the same direction.

"Did you feel that?" Blackwargreymon growled.

"Yes. It was a digi-gate opening. They're back. That Gennai character must still be alive in the Digital World."

"Then let's go!" Blackwargreymon ran outside and took off into the sky towards the east.

"Wait! Oh, that impatient fool." Lucemon leisurely stepped outside and opened his wings wide, taking off into the sky after Blackwargreymon.

* * *

"Guys, look at that friggin car." As we all walked out of the Burger King, I pointed out the convertible sitting parked right outside the door of the fast food joint. It was late in the afternoon and we had all gone out to eat after a teary reunion between Jennifer and her parents. Before we left, her dad asked me what my intentions were with her. I had laughed without thinking, not expecting the question, thereby crushing any hopes of him ever accepting me. "It's a 2004 BMW M3 Convertible." It was jet black with grey leather interior. The top was down and the car was decked with every feature I could imagine. It called to me.

"James, are you drooling?" Jennifer made fun of me as I stared at the car.

"Why would somebody with money for a car like that eat at Burger King?" Chris walked around the convertible, a confused look on his face. We had pulled him out of his lethargy, convincing him that we would get his parents back along with every other person that had been absorbed by Daemon… somehow. It may have been blind hope, foolish wishing, but it kept us going.

"I hate greedy people like this!" Kristen was going into one of her 'This is wrong' fits. "Look, he parked in the handicap and there are clearly no handicap tags or anything! And I don't think a physically challenged person would be worried about getting a car like this!" I got a wild idea.

"Let's say we teach them a lesson." A sinister grin crawled across my face.

"James, what are you planning on doing?" Jennifer saw how my expression had changed and became nervous.

"I say we spit on it!" Kristen yelled out and began to suck up to hock on the car.

"Oh no, I have a much better idea." I ran over and held my hands open, my fingers less than an inch away from the car. I focused and a few seconds later there was a loud pair of beeps.

"Hey, that sounds like the security thing on my mom's car!" Joey called out upon hearing the noise. Meanwhile, I hopped over the door and into the driver's seat.

"That was the security thing Joey." Chris leaned over and whispered in Joey's ear.

"James, what do you think you're doing!?" Jennifer whispered harshly at me as I gripped the steering wheel.

"No offense James, but that last ride in the jeep was really bumpy." Agumon recalled bouncing down the dirt paths in Korea.

"It's amazing the shizz," I focused and the car cranked up, "you learn when you're evil. Let's ride people." I lowered my shades and everybody looked at me like I was nuts.

"Hey! Hey, that's my car!" A man with a grey suit, sunglasses, and a buzz cut ran out, yelling at us, a little kid following close behind. Everybody forgot about the fact that we were stealing a car and jumped in, just so we could get away. Jennifer took the front passenger seat while everybody else jumped in the back.

"Hold on people, we're going for a ride." I backed out and the man ran towards us. I pressed the gas, whipped out of the Burger King parking lot, and pulled a hard right. The man gave up chasing us and pulled out a cell phone. I saw him dialing in the rearview mirror as we sped towards I-26. "Oh no you don't." I focused on the cell phone and could see the man throw it to the ground and stomp on it as we took a right onto the on-ramp.

"What did you do?" Chris turned around and shouted over the wind.

"It is a digital phone and I can manipulate digital coding so…" We got onto I-26 headed east and sped up some more.

"Oh my god we're guilty of grand theft auto." Kristen began to panic.

"No we're not." I laughed.

"Oh really? Why and how!? I already missed the tail end of a school year and now I'll have a criminal record!"

"Because he stole the car. Look below the steering wheel." Kristen stood up a little against the wind from behind me and looked over my shoulder. Some wires hung down below, snapped from a quick hotwire-job. "I don't think that guy was about to call the cops but I don't want anybody to be pursuing us." We passed by exit 103 and I changed lanes until we were on the far left, right beside the concrete median. Everybody calmed down and leaned back, relaxing as I cruised along, going sixty. As we passed exit 104, I looked in the rearview mirror for a split-second and then looked back at the road. I did a double take and called out. "What's that in the sky behind us?" Joey turned around and looked over the back of the seat as we passed under a bridge.

"I can't tell!" Kristen looked over her shoulder and squinted. When she finally made out what it was coming at us, she tried to talk, but was breathless.

"What is it!?" I yelled back over the wind. Joey answered for her.

"Blackwargreymon!" I turned my head and saw him gaining on us fast.

"Hold on!" I gripped the wheel harder and pressed the pedal all the way. The car surged forward and quickly passed over seventy miles an hour.

"What do we do?" Tentomon looked behind us as Blackwargreymon closed the distance between us. He was about a half-mile behind us, moving at an insane speed. The M3 kept going faster, past eighty. Cars ahead of me quickly moved out of the way. Cars behind us began to wreck as the distortion following Blackwargreymon pushed them out of control.

"Joey, do you think you can shoot from the backseat?" He understood what I meant.

"Absolutely!" He pulled out his digivice. "Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kumamon!" Kumamon leaned against the back seat, between Kristen and Chris, and rested his bazooka between the back headrests, aiming at Blackwargreymon. "Blizzard Blaster!" Snowballs flew out from behind us and pelted Blackwargreymon as he flew into them, not slowing the least bit. The car passed a hundred mph and we zipped past exit 106. Traffic began to get heavier as we approached Malfunction Junction, the spot where I-26 meets I-20. I began to weave in and out of traffic without slowing down. Kumamon slid back and forth on the back seat until Chris and Kristen braced themselves against the sides of the car and held him in place.

"Hold on tight!" Blackwargreymon was a quarter-mile away now. We passed by Malfunction Junction and accelerated above 120 mph. I didn't think at all, but just… drove. Left, right, straight, faster, right, right, left, right; I began to weave in and out of cars faster and faster, cutting it ever closer between them. I didn't really pay any heed to the lanes anymore, but just the interstate as a whole. As we rose past 135 mph, Kumamon digivolved again, deciding that his current attack was doing nothing at all.

"Kumamon digivolve to… Polamon!" Polamon climbed a little higher on the seat, nearly sitting on the trunk, so that he could use all of his barrels. The back end of the car sank down a little, gripping the road better, under the weight of the bear and the mass of steel mounted to his back. "Hailstorm!" Chunks of ice pummeled Blackwargreymon with twice the force as usual, like when two cars have a head-on collision. He slowed down a bit, but kept gaining. He was just three or four car-lengths away now as we passed exit 108; 145 mph…

"Cowards! Fight me!!!" Blackwargreymon yelled as he began to stop gaining on us, only a car-length away. Hail continued to pummel him endlessly as Polamon pressed down on the back of the M3. Jennifer turned and looked at me for a split-second before looking back at Blackwargreymon. She did a double-take and looked at me again.

"James? What are you doing?" Her eyes were wide and there was the sound of surprise in her voice, but I didn't really pay attention. Her voice seemed so far away, like it was being caught in the wind and blown away. The world was blurry again, slow and sluggish even though we were covering more than two miles every minute.

"Driving." I was blunt, never shifting my gaze from the road. I gripped the wheel so hard it hurt.

"You're focusing!" She pointed at my gloves on the wheel and I looked down for a moment. She was right—I hadn't meant to, but I was focusing energy into the car. "That's how you're driving like this!" I closed my eyes, normally a really bad idea on the highway, and focused, still driving. We had passed where I-26 veers off onto an exit and the interstate we were on changed to I-126, which heads straight into downtown Columbia. I could feel every part of the car, the engine pumping furiously as wisps of energy flew about it, eliminating friction. I didn't feel like I was driving the car, but like I was a part of the car. I opened my eyes and made a hard left over a few lanes to pass another car at the same time. The car's speed maxed out at 155.

"Jennifer, I need your help." I still didn't break my gaze. I quickly changed lanes all the way to the far right side of the interstate.

"Why? How?"

"We're running out of road." The interstate's end was about a mile away and at the speeds we were going, we would be there less than a minute. "Digivolve."

"Spirit Code Activate! Digivolve to… Kazemon!" The light cleared quickly. "Now what?"

"On my signal, blow everything you have straight up." I focused and energy poured into the engine, pushing it past its normal, physical limitations—kind of like a slow, continuous NOS boost. 165 mph…

"Ready!" The end of the interstate was right in front of us."

"NOW, HOLD ON TIGHT GUYS!!!" It all happened in an instant, but seemed like an eternity from my point of view. I nearly tore the wheel off to the left and the car turned sharply, lifting up on the two left tires; I was flipping the car.

"Hurricane Wind!" Blackwargreymon flew past us, not expecting my move. Kazemon blew straight up out of the top of the car, now facing the side, flipping us completely upside down and pushing us up from the ground. The car careened over the concrete barrier and finished and began to come back down. Everybody was pressed into the seats as we flipped, finally landing, facing the other direction on the other side of the highway. Blackwargreymon had stopped and was coming back for us as I sped back up.

"Christ man!" Chris yelled at me, gripping the seat tightly. I quickly cruised past the 160 mph I had reached before flipping and blasted down the highway.

"We need a plan! We can't just keep running!" Kristen screamed from the backseat, over the sound of cars screeching, Blackwargreymon roaring, and the car engine, which sounded like it was about to explode.

"You guys need to get out of here now." I yelled back. "Chris! Can you and Agumon take him?" I nodded to Blackwargreymon behind us.

"Yeah! Wargreymon is a match for him and with everybody else, we can take him easy! Right Agumon?" Agumon nodded and smirked.

"Good, everybody out, now."

"What!?" Everybody shouted at the same time.

"NOW!!!" I focused and energy blew out of the seats, throwing everybody from the car. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw bright flashes of light as everyone digivolved.

"Agumon warpdigivolve to… Wargreymon!"

"Kazemon digivolve to… Arashimon!"

"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon digivolve to… Megakabuterimon!" I gave one last yell as I cruised away.

"I'll meet you at the statehouse!" I looked back forward at my reason for ejecting them. "Bring it on asshole." I thought to myself and Lucemon smirked as we rocketed towards each other; I knew he could hear me. Most of the cars on the interstate had gotten off upon seeing the events taking place on it, leaving a clear straightaway between myself and the fallen angel. We were still a mile away from each other, both going at least 200 mph.

"I won't let you get away this time. This is the end for all of you. Duality!" The two orbs of energy stayed in Lucemon's hands, unable to go faster than he already was.

"Celestial Fist!!!" I focused more energy into the car and the entire M3 lit up, bright white flames erupting from all points on it, blowing in the wind. The car, now engulfed in light, and Lucemon's attack collided.


	33. Ch 28: When I'm Gone

**Chapter 28: When I'm Gone**

Chunks of asphalt blew out from all around the car when the blasts collided. As I barreled forward, Lucemon pulled up, so as not to be hit by my own attack. The car weaved a bit before I finally regained control and kept driving, determined to get Lucemon away from Blackwargreymon. If we could keep them separated, we could win.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lucemon flew up and turned around, watching me tear back towards I-26. He dived down and gave chase, gaining slowly. "I see you found another talent." He harassed me as he inched closer, but I ignored him, focusing only on the road. "You know, I've been thinking, maybe it wasn't you who created me. Maybe I created you."

"Doubt it." I slammed on the brakes and he blew past me as rubber burned and screeched as I came right before Malfunction Junction. I quickly shifted lanes and got on I-20, a plan in mind. Lucemon quickly turned around again and flew down below the bridge where one interstate crossed over the other, bearing down on me as I cruised along at a relatively slow seventy.

"Duality!" The blasts of energy came down quickly and I slammed down on the gas again, focusing at the same time. I was thrown back into my seat as I careened up an exit ramp. They came together behind me and threw more chunks of road about. I slowed down again and turned right, unable to maneuver at the same high speeds that I had earlier. Traffic was heavy and I could hear people scream as Lucemon flew after me overhead.

"Daemon reconfigured me using your hate, your pain, your sorrow. In a way, I am that pain. In a way, I am you, the real you. Without me, you are but a small fraction of what you used to be." I ignored him as I rode towards stopped lanes of traffic at a red light. The worlds were so close; I could almost see the Digital World appearing in front of me. I blinked, but it didn't go away. As I neared collision with the cars, I focused. If the worlds were nearly on top of each other, then everything would be changing over to data right now. I focused as hard as I could and the parked cars began to glow.

"No Lucemon," I threw my hand up and the cars flew into the air, clearing my way, "you're nothing like me. You think that your own fears are reason enough to destroy the world."

"Just like you. You think they're reason enough to save it." I finally reached my bursting point and veered off to the right, stopping on the lawn in front of the police headquarters. I hopped over the car door and Lucemon dived down on me. "Now you will pay for your insolence. Time to show who made who!" He produced his spear again and charged. I dropped and rolled out of the way, letting him pierce the car. He pressed his foot against the door and pulled it out, swinging it behind him as he did, trying to hit me. I jumped up and grabbed it, focusing as I did.

"Celestial Fist!" I slugged him across the face, but the light around my glove was waning for no apparent reason. "Come on, not now…"

"See, subconsciously, you are ready to be one again." Lucemon recovered quickly, ripped his spear from my hand, and elbowed me away. He ran up quickly and clobbered me with the spear, as if it were a golf club, slashing me at the same time. I was knocked a little further back onto the sidewalk bordering the street and struggled to stand up. Why couldn't I beat him? "Just give up, this world is ours now." He hit me with a roundhouse kick and I flew across the street, crashing through the barred windows of a conspicuous looking building across the street. I slammed into a wooden rack and fell behind a counter. Lucemon flew across the street, not taking time to make out the faded sign. He flew in and looked around. Bullet-proof vests and police attire hung on coat hangers while patrol car sirens sat on shelves. He looked forward, but didn't notice the cases or see what was on the other side of the rack that stood with its side to him. "It's over, but don't worry. I'll make sure that you and your girlfriend get to be together as data."

"Eat lead bitch." I popped up from behind the counter wielding two, pump-action shotguns. I cocked one in each hand and tossed them in the air a short ways, catching them both by the handle. I didn't even have to try; energy seemed to flow by itself, pouring and spinning about the barrels of the shotguns, flowing down them into the shells. I pulled the triggers and two massive blasts of energy ripped out from the guns, filling the room with a bright white light, throwing me into the shelf holding more guns behind me. The vests and guns in the cases below the counter blew forward, shattering the display glass. Lucemon's eyes widened for a split-second before the blasts hit him. A moment later, the front end of the store exploded in bright, hot light, sending glass, steel, brick, and Lucemon into the street. I got back up and cocked each shotgun again, walking quickly through the now ruined gun shop. I found a box of shotgun shells spilled across the floor and picked up a few, reloading the shotguns.

"What the… what was that?" Lucemon shook his head, breathing heavily, as he pushed himself from the ground.

"I made my own hate. I made my own fear. I made my own pain. I made you." I walked up to Lucemon and he tried to jab me with his spear from his knees, but I knocked it out of the way with one of the shotguns. It fell to the ground and I kneed him in the chin, making him fall back. I whacked him with the same shotgun in my right hand across the head, the entire weapon glowing brightly. "Who made who?" I aimed both guns down at him and fired. This time I didn't fly back, but my arms felt like they were about to rip off. The two blasts of energy ripped through Lucemon, slamming into the already damaged street below, some of the force reflecting back into him. When the light cleared, glowing data spouted from holes scattered across Lucemon's body. He coughed up some blood and began to break apart.

"This isn't over. You can't get rid of me. It doesn't matter if you beat me, you'll never beat Daemon. You'll never beat the god of darkness, not a pathetic human like you."

"Human is more than anything you could ever hope to be." He finally broke apart and I absorbed his data. He maintained a vile smirk in the midst of pain until he was finally gone. I stood for a moment until I fell to my knees. I threw up and felt dizzy. I was exhausted and pain throbbed from every part of my body. "I can heal that later." I pushed myself from the ground and ran back to the gun shop, leaving behind the shotguns for a 357 Magnum that I found near the smashed display cases. I found some bullets, loaded it, and ran back out to the M3, still sitting on the now crater-covered lawn of the police headquarters. I cranked it up and pulled out slowly. I tried not to focus so that I could rest up at least a little before getting back to where I had left the others.

* * *

"Terra Destroyer!" Blackwargreymon wasted no time in attacking Wargreymon, determined to take him out of commission before he could react. Wargreymon dodged the shot, but the others weren't as lucky. The concussion blew everybody back, knocking them into the road or into the concrete median barrier.

"Blackwargreymon! Don't you remember how we fought together against Myotismon, against Daemon!?" Wargreymon tried to reason with him as he dashed up to attack up close.

"I was weak then in comparison to those I faced. I have power now, matched only by Daemon himself. I need not friends to carry me on, only power! Terra Destroyer!" Blackwargreymon charged up and threw another sphere of energy at Wargreymon at close range. He didn't have any time to react; the blast hit Wargreymon head on, throwing him into the highway below. "You are nothing compared to me!" Blackwargreymon dived down towards the battered Wargreymon, chinks of his armor missing.

"Come on Wargreymon, get up!!!" Chris yelled futilely as Blackwargreymon came down like lightning. Wargreymon caught Blackwargreymon's claws, using all of his strength to just hold them away. His armor creaked under the immense pressure put on by the dark warrior, standing, pressing with all his might.

"Now!" Wargreymon yelled as he struggled to keep Blackwargreymon from tearing him apart.

"Fujita Cannon!"

"Hailstorm!"

"Horn Buster!" The attacks all hit simultaneously on Blackwargreymon's head, blasting him off of Wargreymon. He landed a short ways away, but quickly regained his balance and footing.

"Terra Destroyer!" The blast flew down the highway towards the three digimon. Just before it hit them, Wargreymon jumped up from the ground in between the group and the attack. The blast smashed into Wargreymon's back, throwing more pieces of armor from him. He finally fell to the ground and devolved. Chris ran up to Koromon and picked him up.

"Koromon! Are you okay!?" Chris pulled Koromon close to him and ran back away from the fight.

"I'm sorry Chris, he's just too powerful." Koromon croaked out a few words dejectedly.

"Don't worry, we'll beat him!" Chris forced himself to sound cheerful, although his hopes of winning against Blackwargreymon were quickly fading. "Man, how can we beat something like that?" Chris thought to himself as he moved clear of the fight. Meanwhile, the others maneuvered around Blackwargreymon, trying to confuse and attack him at the same time. Blackwargreymon's arms flailed about, knocking away attacks.

"Enough!" Blackwargreymon threw his arms down and let the attacks pummel him from all sides. Everybody stopped for a moment to see how effective their attacks were. The smoke cleared and the sun reflected off of Blackwargreymon's armor—there wasn't even a smudge. "Now it's my turn." He jumped from the ground straight at Megakabuterimon, landing on his back. Kristen looked up at him and tried to scream, but no sound emerged. Blackwargreymon backhanded her off of Megakabuterimon and slashed down the bug's back. Megakabuterimon quickly devolved and Tentomon fell out of the sky.

"Slashing Snowstorm!" Polamon jerked out his blades and slashed them across in front of himself, sending a blast of energy, snow, and wind at Blackwargreymon. The warrior turned into it and the arc-shaped fields of energy broke upon him. He dived through the blizzard and slashed upwards on Polamon, sending him into the air. He quickly slashed back down, pounding Polamon back to the ground and into the highway. The bear devolved and Blackwargreymon leveled his claw at Joey.

"Fujita Cannon!!!" The blast hit Blackwargreymon in the back and his foot slipped slightly. He quickly turned around and rocketed towards Arashimon, but she was ready. She dived down and flew down the ruined interstate towards downtown. Blackwargreymon took the bait and chased after her, leaving the others behind.

"What is she thinking?" Chris ran up to help the others. "He'll annihilate her!" Kristen hovered in and out of consciousness.

"Where… she go?" She breathed heavily; Blackwargreymon had dealt a devastating blow against her.

"Towards the city." Chris looked in shock at Kristen, unable to decide what to do. "Oh man, you'll just have to stay here for a minute." She murmured out one last word, but Chris couldn't hear her. She gave up and simply rested on the asphalt as the sound of a motor came up in the distance. "He's back already?" I rode up quickly and screeched to a halt beside the battered digidestined and digimon.

"Holy smack! What happened?" I looked around at the scene and noticed. "Where's Jennifer!?"

"She caught Blackwargreymon's attention and led him away from us towards the city." My eyes widened and my heart dropped.

"If I'm not back in ten minutes, get the hell out of here." I slammed on the gas and focused, no longer worried about resting. "I'm coming Jen…"

* * *

Arashimon weaved back and forth over downtown Columbia as Blackwargreymon chased after her. She finally spotted the statehouse and flew towards it, determined to stay near.

"Damn you, stay still!" Blackwargreymon kept trying to slash Arashimon, but she nimbly dodged his every blow, the winds blowing with her as she flew, carrying her twice as fast as normal and just fast enough to maneuver around Blackwargreymon.

"What's wrong? Can't you hit me?" The she tried to dodge to the left, but the wind blew against her and Blackwargreymon finally landed a hit on her. He tore off the armor on her arm and she yelled in pain. "Ahhh!!!" She grabbed her arm instinctively.

"That's better." Blackwargreymon punched Arashimon across the face, leaving three deep cuts. She spun about in the air and fought to regain her maneuverability, but it was too late. Blackwargreymon stabbed her in the chest, driving his claws into her armor, thankfully without breaking the skin beneath, and slung her down towards the ground. She flew down and slammed into the sidewalk in front of the statehouse. Arashimon devolved and Jennifer wheezed, trying to catch her breath. Blackwargreymon dived down to finish her, but heard the screech of tires. He turned and looked at her.

"No, please, don't." Blackwargreymon laughed and quickly swiped her up with one hand and moved quickly towards the seemingly empty statehouse. Everybody in the city had taken shelter upon hearing about the approaching digimon.

"I'm gonna make this special for you." Blackwargreymon growled and slammed her into one of the Romanesque columns of the building, so that she stayed in it without falling out. He blasted into the air and out of sight.

* * *

I-126 ends and runs right into downtown Columbia. I drove madly down the streets, determined to reach the statehouse before it was too late. The tires burned and smoked every time I turned a corner, which was often. I finally emerged onto the far end of Main Street, which had the statehouse at the other end. I drove quickly towards the building and stopped just a few yards short of the sidewalk in front of it. I looked up and began to panic at the sight of Jennifer, slammed into one of the columns. I jumped over the door of the BMW, Magnum in hand, and ran up to her.

"Jennifer!!!"

"James… please… don't… run…"

"What?" I felt the data around me change just a moment before it happened. I turned my head about, pulling the 357 up across my chest, just in time to see Blackwargreymon sprint at me. I was about to turn around.

"Those who fight together," Blackwargreymon's claw pierced through my back, and stuck out of my chest, directly through my heart, "die together." The 357 was pierced too; a single blade was driven into the handle, causing the gun to hang stiffly upside down, barrel aimed to me. Blood ran down from the wound as I gasped in pain. Jennifer's eyes were wide with terror. Blackwargreymon lifted his arm up, raising me into the air, causing me to slide down his claws a little. The gun stayed where it was, firmly rooted in the claw that pierced it. I tried to look around, but my vision was blurry and fuzzy; light no longer seemed to show from anywhere. The pain had numbed; I couldn't feel anything as my head bobbed and rolled about.

"Heh." Blackwargreymon laughed darkly at my demise. I tried to breathe, but couldn't. I looked one last time at Jennifer. Tears were running down her eyes as she stared at me, hanging from Blackwargreymon's claw. I finally pulled together my last breath.

"I… love you." I closed my eyes and pressed down, forcing down Blackwargreymon's arm so that I was standing on the ground. I gripped the 357, still firmly attached to the claw that went through me. I focused and energy poured into the gun. Space and time seemed to melt around me as more energy than I knew I had poured into the gun. My digivice glowed and shook violently, erupting in a static light. I pulled the trigger and the gun exploded through me, and into Blackwargreymon. The blast blew clear through us, reaching into the sky without ever stopping. My data ripped apart and was carried away by the blast.

"I hope it's enough to save her." My last thought raced through my head, and I existed no longer, my data scattering in the blast field and the wind.


	34. Ch 29: Reanimation

**Chapter 29: Reanimation**

"AAARGH!!!" Blackwargreymon shook, his armor moaning and creaking. He held his arms across the foot wide hole that had been blown through him. "H… How?" A steady flow of data began to stretch from the open wound, off into the distant east. "How can I be done already?" Jennifer didn't care; she felt like her heart had been ripped out. Blackwargreymon noticed this. "Don't worry."

"What?" Her voice sounded distant and weak.

"You'll all join him soon enough." Blackwargreymon let out a laugh, chopped and mixed with hacking and coughing. Finally, he relaxed, and his data completely fell apart, flying into the distance. Jennifer watched her enemy float away into the distance, paying no heed to his last words. She climbed out of the column and sat down on the steps leading up to the doors of the statehouse, staring emotionlessly onto the white, stone steps as sirens approached from what seemed everywhere. Patrol cars quickly zoomed to the statehouse, trying to see if anybody had been hurt by the dark, warrior digimon.

"Young lady, are you okay!?" The first officer out of his car ran up to her, looking her over for injuries. "Oh my god, can you hear me?" The officer's eyes widened at the sight of Jennifer's bleeding arms, face, and back, amazed that she sat there as if there was no pain at all. Jennifer didn't say anything. "I need a stretcher!" The man yelled to another officer. He leaned into his patrol car and spoke quickly into the radio. He emerged a moment later.

"They'll be here in five minutes!"

"Why so long? I thought they were already on their way!" The cop turned and looked at his partner, surprised that there wasn't already a stretcher to him.

"They found some kids beat up pretty bad on the interstate! They stopped to pick them up!" The officer looked away from his partner, back at Jennifer's wounds, worried that she might bleed to death. However, the cuts already seemed to be clotting.

"Young lady, I need you to tell me what happened here." The cop tried to speak in the calmest voice he could, but it was still shaky.

"He's… gone." Jennifer spoke without emotion, her voice still as weak and distant sounding as before. It was as if she was somewhere else, somewhere far away from her body. Her eyes were glazed, their colors dull.

"Who's gone? Tell me, is somebody else hurt?" The officer began to get excited again as a handful of others ran by into the statehouse, seeing if anybody inside was injured. Jennifer didn't answer the officer's question, but repeated her last statement.

"He's gone." The officer's partner ran up to him.

"Don't ask her anything else, she's probably still in shock."

"But what if she knows something?"

"We won't get anything out of her like this Rob. These things have wiped out entire nations; I'd be in shock too if I survived one." The partner turned around and bent over picking up what looked like a small, black and white, hand-held computer. "Hmmm… what's this?"

* * *

"Ohhh… where am I?" Consciousness slowly returned to me. I tried to open my eyes, but there was nothing to open. I felt like I was floating in space.

"What's going on?" I couldn't speak, move, or do anything except think.

"You're in the Data World." A familiar voice seemed to surround me.

"What? I'm not dead? Oh come on God, if this is a joke it isn't funny, just show me the light please."

"No James, you're dead, but you aren't in purgatory, not the type you're talking about at least." I finally recognized the voice as Gennai's.

"Gennai? Where the hell am I? If I'm dead, then… what's going on?" I began to panic, but other than the pitch of my thoughts, there was no way to tell. "How can you hear my thoughts?"

"Calm down James." Gennai took a deep breath as he always did whenever he started a long, confusing explanation that brought more questions than answers. His voice echoed from everywhere, loudly, but like it was from far away. "Like I said, you are in the Data World, the world that links the Digital World to yours."

"Why am I here?" The darkness began to be replaced by a faint light all around me. I saw as if I had eyes, but I had no body. It was really weird.

"The worlds have finally become so close that the Data World is nearly completely covering yours. When you pulled your little sacrificial stunt, you were blown into data and brought here. For digimon, and now for you, this is a sort of 'Digital Limbo'. The original digidestined were brought here by Apocalymon. Whenever digimon die, they either immediately become digieggs, or they are brought here as pure data."

"So why am I here? Why aren't I in heaven?"

"Well why not hell? You did kill yourself."

"That's like asking if people who take bullets for the president are sent to hell." I retorted, angry that Gennai thought I should be in hell.

"Whatever. Anyways, I don't know why you aren't. I'm not exactly a religion scholar, but maybe you aren't done yet. You know… the whole unfinished business thing."

"Yeah, I'm gonna get a whole lot done dead." I thought sarcastically as the light grew brighter, revealing chains of changing ones and zeroes everywhere. The light was foggy, blocking sight of numbers in the distance.

"Ah, there you are. Don't think, I don't want to risk losing you while I do this." Gennai spoke firmly, but nervously.

"You aren't going to try and swat a fly off me with a brick are you?"

"Damnit! I said don't think!!!" I tried to as best I could. The light faded away and everything went black. I felt a sudden rush, surprised that I had felt something. Finally, light began to come back, and I shook my head. I was in Gennai's house.

"You brought me back to life!? OH GENNAI YOU'RE THE…" I ran up to hug Gennai, only to go right through him.

"I'm sorry James, but resurrection is out of my league." Gennai sounded depressed.

"What… what am I?" I turned around, watching Gennai slowly walk over to his couch. He sat down and let out a painful sigh of exhaustion. "Are you okay?"

"James, you're a ghost. I was able to locate your data, or what's left of it at least. It doesn't take long for data to change back to nothing, let alone all the data you destroyed with your attack. I brought that data back here and organized it as best I could, letting you resemble yourself in a digital form." I looked down at myself. He was right, I only resembled myself. I was translucent; I could see through to the floor somewhat. Every few moments, my thoughts would scatter and I would have to think hard to stay with a single one as a wave of static rushed through me.

"If I'm a ghost, then how can you see me? Can everybody?"

"No, only other ghosts can see you." I thought about it for a second and my eyes widened at Gennai.

"Then that would mean that you…" Gennai smiled weakly and looked away.

"I want you to listen to me James, and listen closely. Those who die in the Digital World have a choice if they can't be changed into a digiegg." I stood and looked intently at Gennai. "The first choice is to finally, truly, die. One's data is completely wiped clean and reconfigured for other purposes, containing no trace of its previous user. I don't know what happens to those who choose that. The second choice is to remain a ghost until the end of time. The third choice is for your data to be reconfigured, either as it is or along with new data to become a digimon."

"Well doesn't my choice seem obvious?" If I could be reconfigured as I was now, then I was ready whenever.

"It isn't that easy James. If you can't be reconfigured as a digiegg, you can't be reconfigured as you once were. The data is taken and used to reconfigure you as a "Digital Agent", which is what I am. I do not resemble my former self in any way, which is why nobody in the real world would ever recognize me except as 'Gennai'." It was like Gennai had taken my hopes and jumped up and down on them.

"So I can't be me again?"

"I'm afraid not." I turned away. "I chose to become a Digital Agent so that I could help my…" Gennai stopped himself short, catching himself before he said something. "I chose to become a Digital Agent. I am neither human nor digimon, but a digital life-form dedicated to maintaining the existence of the digital world. Mentally, I'm the same as I used to be, but physically I am completely different."

"What happens if I become a digimon?"

"Your data is broken back down and combined with new data to create a new digiegg. When you hatch, you are a new digimon. I know that at least some mental capacity of your former life remains, but I'm not sure how much. It might just be a sense of deja-vu. Or, maybe you'll just know that you lived a previous life as something, or someone else, like Patton."

"You mean he really did live previous lives?"

"Oh god no, I just used him as an example. I think he was nuts." I rolled my eyes.

"Do I have to choose now?"

"No. So long as you are a ghost the choices remain open." Gennai looked at me. "You should wait a while before making any hasty choices. This will probably be the biggest one of your… well… after-life." I shot Gennai a dirty glare for his cheesy joke. "Normally I would suggest that you become a Digi-Agent, but because of current events…"

"What?" I went over and sat down beside Gennai. I was more so floating than walking or sitting; I passed through everything.

"Digi-Agents take care of the Digital World, maintaining its existence. But as you can see, we hold no power over major problems such as Daemon, we're just operators, helping data between the two worlds and doing what we can for the digi-gods. When the Digital World's status becomes poor and weak, so do we. We are directly connected to it."

"But then how were you able to defeat that Meramon?" I still hadn't forgotten about Gennai saving Chris, Joey, and I in the desert.

"Because we are physical, we hold some power, but nothing to shift the tide of Ultimates or Megas." We sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. I finally broke the question.

"So what do we do? What about the others? I can't stand just sitting here!" I floated up and forward, turned around, and lost my balance, flipping upside down.

"Well, you can't go to the real world, not yet at least. It is only a matter of time before the worlds collide, then, it won't matter. We will be able to exist on both wastelands. As for the others, well, you probably will be seeing them again soon. Daemon is crossing the Atlantic as we speak. His army has already smashed the rest of Europe and Africa. He used the data from the humans he killed in Africa to make more Devimon and they're headed towards South America to join the ones that have cleared the Pacific Islands. His main army is poised to cross over to Greenland, and then swarm down from the north."

"So what you're saying is that… it's hopeless." I spoke coldly, not looking at Gennai.

"Yes. It was really over before we began. You all were a last ditch effort, but we never really expected you to stop Daemon, let alone the army we didn't know he already had."

"You make me sick." I clenched my fist, whirled back upright, and floated down so that it at least looked like I was standing on the ground.

"What?"

"You're giving up on them already? You're giving up hope so fast!?" Gennai looked at me in shock as I yelled at him. "After all we've been through, after all the power and strength we have found in ourselves you're willing to just give up!? Hell, we beat his generals, all that stands in their way is Daemon's army and Daemon himself! Agumon has already reached Mega and the others are bound to reach it soon, too! Once they're mega, it won't matter how many Devimon that jackass Daemon can amass!"

"James, I'm sorry, but…"

"Really Gennai, I thought you better than that." Gennai sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I'm surprised. I had expected that dying would make you depressed."

"There is too much at stake right now to be depressed Gennai. I can worry about me later. Right now the entire world is resting on my friends' shoulders and we need to be doing all we can to help them, if it means only cheering them on."

* * *

"Let us in there!" Chris screamed at the man in the white lab coat. Chris always hated medical professionals, be they physical or mental doctors.

"I'm sorry but she's under close observation right now and I can't let you break the last strands of sanity she has left." The old man spoke calmly to Chris' rage.

"Break her last strands of sanity? Where's yours!? We'll snap her out of this before you can yell 'psychology'!" Kristen almost made a sarcastic comment about Chris being able to pronounce 'psychology' correctly, but stopped herself short. None of them had seen me since Blackwargreymon, Lucemon had disappeared, and Jennifer hadn't spoken a word. They were completely in the dark about what had happened at the statehouse; the only evidence of my presence was the M3 and my digivice, found on the path up to the statehouse by the police. "Out of my way!" Chris shoved the psychologist out of his way and kicked the door down into the room. There was only a bed, two cushiony armchairs, a door to a bathroom, and large windows opening to the courtyard of the mental hospital. "Jennifer!" Chris ran up to the girl, who sat in one of the armchairs facing the windows. "Listen, you've got to… holy shit!"

"What's wrong?" Agumon ran after his partner. "Is there… oh no."

"Get out of there right now!" The old man had gotten to his feet with Kristen's help. "Do you hear… what did you do to her?" A thin dark cloud surrounded Jennifer. She could be seen clearly, but it was like a shadowy, black outline. She gazed out of the window, her eyes completely gray. The screen on her digivice was blank.

"Jennifer!" Chris yelled at her, but she didn't move. "Can you hear me? Wake up!" He yanked on her arm and fell backwards, falling to the floor. She didn't budge, stiff as iron. "Ow!"

"Look!" Joey pointed up at the ceiling. It seemed to be disappearing, being replaced by a dark, stormy sky. "What's happening?"

"It's a Memoriamon, feeding on her depression." A dark voice echoed from behind the digidestined as the environment around them changed to reflect Jennifer's feelings. They all turned around to find Daemon, floating menacingly. "I planned on killing you all, but I think she's found a much better way to get rid of you." The sky turned dark, the floor unstable. Daemon's presence had changed what the Memoriamon did. Instead of changing the environment, it began to rip them away from the real world. The old doctor stood back and watched as the digidestined, their digimon, and Daemon began to phase in and out of existence, their images becoming static. "You damned digidestined banished me to this world for a millennia. Welcome to the Dark Ocean."


	35. Ch 30: Tempests upon a Dark Ocean

**Chapter 30: Tempests upon a Dark Ocean**

The digidestined were no longer in the mental hospital in Columbia. Instead they all stared at Daemon, floating above the black waters of the Dark Ocean. Cold winds blew sand into their faces, stinging the skin. The sky was a dark grey, with what looked like negative stars spattered across it, black dots on the slate. An ancient looking lighthouse shot a dark light across the landscape, rounding out the depressing land. Daemon laughed at the digidestined as they looked about in fear.

"I hope you like this world. I spent two thousand years here, dwelling in my own darkness. By sending me here, those digidestined that preceded you sealed the doom of both worlds. I found that I could manipulate my dark powers beyond what I had ever known in the rest of the Digital World. So, I began building my power, using the home of the Memoriamon to build my armies as well as my own power. The despair and fear of the Digital World all seeped and flowed, like water down rivers, to this Dark Ocean. Finally, they carried with them, the knowledge of the worlds, shadows of data bringing me news of the events there. That is how I found out about the legends. After that, I just had to break out with my army, find Millenniumon, and become what we were always supposed to be." Daemon floated around the digidestined, who listened attentively to his story, hoping that he would slip and say something that would be useful.

"But you weren't able to do it, were you? The digi-gods destroyed Millenniumon before you could DNA digivolve." Chris snapped cockily at Daemon.

"WRONG!" Daemon yelled back and laughed hysterically. "First and foremost: I never planned to DNA digivolve with Millenniumon. DNA digivolution is a weak, temporary combination of the powers of two digimon. We planned to merge our very coding, making us the one deity, permanently. Secondly, you can not completely destroy any digimon. Yes, he died, his data returning to the Data World, but it wasn't long before I found his data-ghost. All that I need is enough data for us to merge with. Now, with the data of the two worlds, I have enough."

"No." Kristen looked in shock at Daemon. "You can't. You can't have that power already, it's impossible."

"Not all on me at once, but all I need do is disband my army, take its data, and I'll have more than enough. That is why I've decided to let you humans have your last hurrah. In about twenty minutes, a nuclear barrage will completely annihilate the Devimon approaching North America. Once they are destroyed, their data will come straight to me. With it, Millenniumon and I will fuse our coding in the Data World to become the true Dark-God: Armageddamon."

"We won't let you!" Joey yelled out at Daemon, clenching his digivice tightly. "We'll stop you just like we always have!"

"Yeah! Just wait till I digivolve!" Agumon turned to Chris, ready to warpdigivolve. "Chris!"

"Right!" Chris pulled out his digivice and it glowed faintly.

"Agumon warpdigivolve to… Agumon?" A small wave of power swept over Agumon, but fell short, sending him back to his rookie form. "What happened?" Daemon continued to laugh, his dark schemes finally coming back together.

"The power of your beloved digi-gods has long since faded. The only reason that you ever could reach Mega was because of the dark energies that James gave you. Though now your crests could show all the brighter, they are nothing compared to suppressive energies of the Dark Ocean." The digidestined began to lose confidence. Chris went back to Jennifer.

"Wake up! We need you!" She sat, her knees brought up to her chest, staring out over the Dark Ocean. "Please!" She murmured something. "What?"

"I killed him." Jennifer repeated it over and over. Daemon laughed. Chris took a step back from her.

"The poor girl has finally convinced herself that she is the reason James is dead." Chris looked in shock at Daemon, and then at Jennifer. The digidestined hadn't known what had happened to me, only thinking that I had been injured or taken to the Digital World. "Love is my favorite of your virtues you know." Everybody turned back to Daemon, hate and rage building up in them. "Of them all, love brings the most pain and fear. It brings the darkest thoughts, even more so than hope. If I worked on it, I could probably make her more than Fuzenmon ever could have been."

"We've got to get out of here." Tentomon whispered in Kristen's ear.

"What? Why!?" Kristen turned to her partner.

"You're the Digidestined of Knowledge! It's obvious we're way out of out league right now! It's only three of us against him!"

"Your partner is very smart Kristen." Daemon was taking his time, not in any hurry to kill the digidestined yet. "I advise you to listen to him, although any attempts at escape from here are futile for you." Joey ran up to Jennifer.

"Jennifer? Please wake up. I'm… scared. I want my mom and she isn't here." Chris looked at Joey, shaking nervously. They hadn't told him his mom was dead. "You're the only person like her. You looked out for me, you helped me, you're like a big sis to me." Tears came to the young child's eyes. "Please wake up."

"I killed him…" Jennifer paid no heed to Joey's pleas.

* * *

"Please stop!!!" Jennifer screamed, trying to look away, only to be forced and confronted with the image over, and over, and over again. Every time was worse, the blast ripping through to the sky and the two breaking into data: one her enemy, one her love. "I can't take it!"

"Good. The sooner you truly realize the pain you brought your friends, the better. Your greed for love brought him to his end and soon it will be the downfall of the others." The Memoriamon hissed throughout her thoughts. It was the only thing she heard; the dark creature's hissing voice. "I think it's time to hook up the speakers now."

"Please no! I'm begging you!" Jennifer fell to her knees, crying. She couldn't take so much pain at once.

"I hope you like surround sound." The blast echoed and reverberated off the edges of her mind. Blackwargreymon's last scream, all of it, she heard it pounding in her ears. "Stop fighting it, you're only prolonging the pain. Let it flow over you, command you, become you."

"Jennifer!" The scene began playing over again, like somebody kept playing one part of a VCR tape, rewinding it, and playing it again. She saw me running up to her.

"James… please… don't… run…" Jennifer heard herself in the memory and screamed out.

"Damnit run! Run please! Before it's too late!!! Why didn't I scream!!? Why didn't I tell him!!?" Jennifer shook as the darkness began to rage against her.

"What?"

"Those who fight together," SHLICH, "die together." Jennifer screamed, teetering on the border of insanity as she watched the blade go through the 'me' in her memory. I tried to gasp for air, but couldn't

"BREATHE DAMN YOU, BREATHE!!!" She screamed at the memory of me as it died in front of her.

"Heh." There were a few more struggles for air before I finally stopped trying. Instead, a look of understanding, as if I had finally realized that I could do only one thing, came across my face.

"Please don't leave me again." Jennifer began to break down.

"I… love you."

"What?" She couldn't hear what I said. "What did you say?"

"He said 'Damn you'." The Memoriamon tried to cover up his blunder.

"No he didn't." The memory played quickly over again as the Memoriamon began to lose control of Jennifer's thoughts.

"I… love you." Jennifer stopped breathing.

"Then why did you die?" Jennifer spoke out to the memory as if I were really there.

"Grrr… AHHH!!!" The memory of me yelled as he shoved down on Blackwargreymon's claw, causing it to cut a little deeper. Energy poured into the 357 Magnum as the static light poured from the digivice.

"Why are you going to kill yourself?" I focused with my eyes close, until a split-second until I pulled the trigger. My eyes opened and looked up at Jennifer, and a weak smile came across my face. I closed my eyes again and pulled the trigger. The memory went back to its normal speed, showing me get ripped into oblivion by my own attack, my data flowing through the new hole in Blackwargreymon. Blackwargreymon broke apart, speaking his last words, but Jennifer didn't hear them, as if the sound of the memory had been shut back off. "That's why."

"NO!" The Memoriamon finally realized how fatal his blunder had been.

"You died… for me. Not because of me, but because you chose to in order to save me, to save all of us."

"No he didn't!"

"Yes he did! I loved him but never thought he loved me back! He was the same way and couldn't bring himself to tell me until the end!"

"Jennifer, please wake up!" Joey's cries sounded distant.

"Joey?"

"Please! We need you!" The cries became louder.

"I'm coming!" The memory faded.

"NO!!!"

* * *

Many minutes had passed while Joey continued to cry against Jennifer.

"Jennifer, please wake up!"

"Joey?" Jennifer murmured the way she had before.

"Please! We need you!" Joey didn't hear her over his own crying. Jennifer stirred a little and he let go of the tight hug he had previously had on her.

"I'm… I'm coming!" Jennifer sat up straight, the shadow around her becoming unstable, breaking up around her. She blinked a few times and the color finally came back to her eyes. She jumped to her feet and the black cloud around her fell away, shooting into the sky near Daemon.

"Impressive." Daemon didn't worry about his defeated lackey. "You failed me Memoriamon."

"No master! Please!" With a swing of the scythe, the Memoriamon broke into data and Daemon absorbed him.

"I wanted to wait until I had become Armageddamon, but I grow impatient. Time to die." Daemon flew down, pulling his scythe back to strike down Jennifer. It came down to her, but never landed. Jennifer's hand went up and caught the scythe by the long handle, stopping it in the air. "What the…!?" Jennifer's digivice was shaking violently and glowing furiously.

"No Daemon. I won't let you." A long crack opened in the screen of the D-X and bright pink light exploded onto the scene. A moment later, the Crest of Love, no longer a code but the actual, physical crest and tag, floated in front of Jennifer. She closed her eyes and grabbed it with her free hand. Her eyes opened, glowing.

"NO!" Daemon yelled; his eyes wide with shock that the crest had been recreated by the digivice itself.

"Mega Spirit Activate!" A ghostly form of Azulongmon shot out from Jennifer's digivice into the sky, sending light across the Dark Ocean. It circled in the sky for a moment before diving headfirst towards Jennifer. It crashed into her, sending a bright flash of light, blinding everybody, washing away the darkness of the Ocean for an instant. "Warpdigivolve to… Tempesmon!!!" The light cleared and Tempesmon stood holding Daemon's scythe at bay.

She now donned a grey cloak that wrapped around her, just slightly loose, that seemed to blend in the sky behind her. Her wings had changed from the previous butterfly-like curves to a streamlined pair of wings that looked like they would be from a jet fighter if they had been metal. They were wide at the bottom, narrowing to a tip at the top. Her hair was a light purple and hung down to just past the back of her knees. A veil covered her face below her eyes, much like Zephyrmon's.

"How? How is this possible?" Daemon was shocked, but spoke in anger, not the fear that most villains attained when matched with a formidable foe.

"Daemon, you will pay for your crimes against existence." Tempesmon pushed the scythe out of the way and kicked Daemon in the 'chest', sending him back a short ways. He laughed a little.

"You have much power around you. Very few can actually stand a chance against me." Daemon flew past Tempesmon until he was well over the Dark Ocean. "But you still are hopeless."

"Typhoon Stars!" Tempesmon quickly reached into the folds of her cloak and produced six, hurricane-shaped, throwing stars. She launched them at Daemon and they began spinning like buzz-saws. A powerful gale followed them, kicking up sand and blowing waves out to the sides as they went over the Dark Ocean. They slammed into Daemon and he held his scythe up, blocking them. They spun against it, cutting deep into the handle of the scythe, pushing Daemon further back over the ocean. They broke into data as Daemon finally knocked them away.

"It will take more than that to stop me."

"I'm just getting started!" Tempesmon shouted back at Daemon, taunting him. "Skyfall!" Tempesmon threw her hands into the air, yelling out the name of her attack. The dark clouds above rumbled, but nothing seemed to happen.

"Is this the best you can put against me? A Mega that knows no real attack?" Daemon acted as though he was insulted. Suddenly, the winds picked up. Sand began to blow about and it became hard to stand against the hurricane force winds.

"What's happening?" Joey yelled out, no longer able to see Tempesmon, who still floated in the air over the beach, holding her hands up.

"Everybody get down!!!" Kristen was looking at the sky and yelled out. She ran over and tackled Joey, pinning him to the ground and covering his head. Tentomon struggled to get to the ground safely, getting blown around like a feather in an updraft. Chris had dived to the ground, holding his hands over his head. Agumon did the same beside him. Daemon simply floated as the winds broke against him.

"I'm waiting." The clouds above began to thunder and spark wildly. A moment later, they began to swirl. Daemon didn't notice. "Well? I grow tired of this. If you wish to attack me, do so now. I have a meeting with some radioactive data." Tempesmon threw her hands down, commencing the attack. Funnel clouds shot down quickly from the sky, the dark clouds twisting between each other as they came down onto the sands and the ocean. One formed upon the lighthouse, tearing the stones that it was built of apart. Water sprayed everywhere from the tornados on the water and a torrential downpour began. The tornados all whirled about aimlessly for a moment, before all shifting towards Daemon.

"It is time for your evil to be carried away from this world upon the winds of fate, Daemon!" Tempesmon called out as Daemon vanished in the tornados converging on top of them. The waters became tumultuous, if not already before. The tornado split the water, driving all the way down to the ocean floor. Suddenly, Daemon's scythe was thrown from the column of black clouds, hurtling towards Tempesmon. She noticed it and quickly bent back, letting it fly over her. It drove into a tree on the edge of the beach. The winds dissipated, and Daemon was gone. The funnel clouds began to drift away, like wisps of smoke, but the torrential storm remained.

"Where… where's Daemon?" Chris looked up, shouting over the thunder and rain.

"Did we win?" Joey shoved Kristen off of him.

"Yes. It's over." Tempesmon breathed a sigh of relief. "I think it's finally over."

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Daemon's voice bellowed from everywhere, causing Tempesmon tense back up. "You don't think I'd be defeated so easily do you?"

"Show yourself!" A crack of lightning smashed into the sands a few yards away from Agumon, causing him to yell.

"I'm sorry, but I need not do that anymore. It is time!" The ground began to shake and rumble, more bolts of lightning cracking into the ground.

"Tempesmon!" Kristen called out as a bolt nearly hit her. "Watch what you're doing!"

"It isn't me!" Tempesmon looked around in panic, no longer in control of the weather. The ground shook and reverberated violently, as if the entire Dark Ocean was on the verge of collapsing in on itself. Finally, it emerged. A massive swell of water appeared out in the middle of the Dark Ocean, raising hundreds of feet in the air. The ground cracked and buckled as the waters receded to the swell, causing the tide to go out; very, very far out. Finally, the swell burst, a huge cloud of data flowing from it into the sky. "No… NO!!!" Tempesmon screamed out as the massive cloud of data whirled about in the sky, more data flowing in from the horizon, in all directions, towards it.

"The D-Day of R-Reckoning has-s come-come. Doom-doom has come-me to these-se worlds-s-s. Ha ha ha ha ha!!!" Two voices, dark and sinister, echoed and reverberated off of each other, spreading across the sky as the seemingly endless clouds of data swirled upon one another. "Let it be known, that upon this day, when the worlds of digimon and humans became one, all traces of virtue were swept away forever!" Finally, the negative appearance of the Dark Ocean disappeared, causing it to look normal, or at least as normal as it ever had. A regular light flowed in upon it from the Crest of Love, in its tag around Tempesmon's neck, still shining so long as she existed.

* * *

"Alright, if you will give me just a moment…" A reporter held away the headphones on his headset, letting a military officer whisper something in his ear. "Okay, I have just received word that confirms the rumors of a massive nuclear assault against what has been called by high ranking officials as the Daemon Corps. This is a last ditch effort by the United States military to stop what has devastated the rest of the world. It will be aimed here," the reporter held up an atlas of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, "over the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of the Newfoundland province of Canada, where the Daemon Corps will be crossing in just a few moments. Although previous attempts at nuclear assaults have failed, the military is confident that this attack will prevail, only relying on the bare minimal of computerized systems, due to the chaotic conditions of the world's remaining electronics, as more disasters take place across the country due to system-wide computer failures." The reporter went on to describe how dams across the nation had broken down, flooding huge regions; how nuclear plants had melted down; and other various tragedies had occurred as the ravaged Digital World finally began to take it's toll on the real world. "The fate of the human race now rests with this one last thrust at the evils that have consumed our world, the forces over Central America, having mysteriously disappeared, only to show back up with the remainder of the Daemon Corp."

* * *

"This is it, isn't it Gennai?" I watched helplessly at the television, listening to the reporter. My data was a bit more static than usual, but I didn't really notice. It is hard to feel anything when you're a ghost.

"I think so James." Gennai also gazed helplessly at the television set. "If this attack fails, then I think it is over for us. If it succeeds, then… well… we can just hope that the others show up in time to stop Daemon."

"Should we hold our breath?" I looked darkly at Gennai. "I think everybody else remaining in existence is."

"James," Gennai slowly looked at me one last time as the ground began to shake and rumble, "if you believe in God, now is the time to pray."

* * *

"Sir, awaiting your command." A young soldier looked anxiously at the Secretary of Defense, holding a phone to his head. The old, tired cabinet member held onto a phone of his own.

"Mr. President, we're awaiting your orders."

"Fire at will." The voice cracked from the other end, distorted slightly from the virus that swept through the world's computer networks.

"Thank you sir." The Secretary of Defense hung up and nodded to the young soldier.

"Fire at will, I repeat, fire at will." The soldier gave the command over and over, speaking hastily. The call went out across the lines, to various hidden silos across the country. All at once, the hatches to them opened, the missiles igniting and lifting off out of them. The thrust of the missiles could be seen for miles, and miles upon end. Hundreds, thousands of weapons; the entire American arsenal firing out at once, rushing upon the Daemon Corps, as the Devimon and Ladydevimon all flew madly towards their ultimate destiny. Pictures of the missiles appeared on the monitors of the Pentagon, as well as on a dozen different television sets placed in the Oval Office of the White House.

"Please… please… God damnit please…" The Secretary of Defense balled his hands into fists as the missiles neared their target. "Come on… come on…" Beads of sweat emerged upon his forehead, running down his face as he shook nervously. He slowly crept toward the monitor he watched: zoomed in satellite footage upon the region around the Atlantic between Greenland and Newfoundland, Canada. The nukes hit, completely lighting up the screen of the region. "Yes… yes… YES!!!" The Secretary of Defense screamed at the top of his lungs as a cheer came from every person in the Pentagon. "WE DID IT!!!"

* * *

"Here you can see the weapons moving towards their targets now. We will leave the camera aimed towards the target, however if you can see this from your home look away now, the flash will leave you blind, should you look at it." The nukes hit and a huge cloud shot into the sky, silently tearing the tectonic plates apart below the flash-boiled ocean. The flash spread across the face of the planet, shining about from the horizon for a thousand miles. Finally, the sound followed, a devastating roar that deafened those who watched. It shattered windows of buildings in New York, and completely tore down weaker buildings in Toronto. The entire planet seemed to shake from the blast. A few minutes passed and the light finally died down, leaving the image of the massive cloud of smoke and data that engulfed the entire region around where the missiles hit. The roar died down slightly, and the reporter stood up straight, having bent over during the blast. She yelled over the lingering sound.

"From the looks of it, I believe that the attack was a success!" She pointed at the cloud, smiling. "I think it's over." Suddenly, the cloud began to spin and whirl as the data moved. The ground shook and rumbled.

"What's happening?" The anchors in the studio asked the reporter, the earth beneath them rumbling as well.

"I don't know!" The reporter struggled to maintain her balance, finally turning to look at the cloud of data. "Oh dear god…"

* * *

"No… it can't be… not now…" Gennai's voice was shaking, as well as the rest of him. "Please no." The ground began to shake violently.

"Gennai, what's happening!?" I floated above, my data becoming more static. Finally, a clear distortion ran through me, sending pain through my consciousness. "AHHH!!! HELP!!!"

"It's over." Gennai began to look distorted, his data breaking apart. "We failed."


	36. Ch 31: When Worlds Collide

**Chapter 31: When Worlds Collide**

"We've got to get away from here!!!" Chris yelled out, trying to stand up and get everybody together.

"We are away! Look!!!" Tempesmon yelled out as the rumbling continued, the earthquake steadily intensifying. She pointed out over the Dark Ocean, no longer dark. In front of them, a terrifyingly huge mass of data swirled about from where the Daemon Corps had been but a moment before. Everybody looked up at the cloud of data that swirled before them.

"What the hell is that!?" Kristen yelled out from the ground, her eyes wide with fear.

"I think we should try and digivolve guys." Joey stood up, teetering a little, fighting to keep his balance on the violently shaking ground.

"They're merging!" Tentomon called out from the air, shaking as well, trying to stay airborne. "That data that crashed from the Dark Ocean, it was Millenniumon's! They're coming together!!!"

"If I could only digivolve!" Agumon looked nervously at the mass of data, spinning ever faster.

"But this doesn't make sense!" Chris called out. "How are we here!? What's happening!? And why won't this ground stop shaking!?"

"The worlds are coming together Chris. They're finally becoming one. When they're done," Agumon pointed at the endless cluster of data, "he'll be done." Dark clouds spouted from the mass of data, spewing forth into the skies, shooting across them and reaching to the horizon almost instantly. A few moments passed and the data began to slow down, the quaking reaching its zenith. Finally, the data collapsed in on itself, the shaking stopped, and a wave of darkness blasted out across the face of the planet. Silence ensued. Floating in the air in front of the digidestined was Armageddamon, the Digi-Deity of Darkness.

"Mwa ha ha ha ha…" His deep voice bellowed as he looked himself over. "It is good to be back." Armageddamon's red skin burned in the darkness, his wings stretching across for yards. A pair of horns curled out from his head, a ring hanging from his flat nose. Fire seemed to burn in his eyes, striking fear into the hearts of the digidestined. Light fell into his black armor, never escaping its clutches. He was hell incarnate in every sense. "Ah, I can feel it again. The power that once was taken from me so rashly is once again mine, and even more than before." The demon snorted a laugh.

"We digidestined have prevailed in the darkest of times before, Armageddamon! We'll prevail now!" Chris yelled out at the beast.

"I think not." Armageddamon lowered down from the sky, his wide wings flapping slowly. He landed on the ground in front of the digidestined and it buckled beneath him. He was only nine feet tall, small in comparison to many digimon, but so much power resonated from him that space and time bent in towards him. "You see, I have no match. Those digivices were created by those weaker than me." He threw his hand up, which looked like claws from the long, discolored nails. The digivices floated into the air, a dark light emerging from them. "So how can you expect them to do anything to me?" He shook his hand and the digivices turned towards their keepers. "They are mine now, and so shall they do my bidding." He threw his hand down and blasts of darkness emerged from them, slamming into the digidestined. However, they were not thrown back like they were with most attacks, but were held in place, taking the full brunt of the pain. Tempesmon was hit hardest; the powers of her digivice had been completely unlocked from her warpdigivolution. She quickly devolved, the darkness engulfing Jennifer, blocking her from the others' sight. All of them screamed in pain; Agumon and Tentomon sharing the pain of their partners. "Heh."

* * *

"Ohhh…" My consciousness returned to me, but pain shot through my data. "How can I be in pain? I'm a ghost?" I looked around me at the barren, black lands around me. "Gennai? Gennai!? Where are you?" 

"I'm sorry James, but it's over." I turned around and saw an unfamiliar digi-ghost.

"Who are you?"

"You may call me Mr. Hida, but you once knew me as Gennai."

"Hida? Wait… isn't that."

"Yes, it is. As I said before, becoming a Digi-Agent is one of your choices when you die in the Digital World."

"Then you mean…" My eyes widened at the realization that hit me.

"Yes, I am who you believe me to be." Cody's father sighed heavily and turned away. "When I was younger, my son's age, Oikawa and I loved video games. We loved them so much that we began to make our own, eventually experimenting with digital coding itself. However, before we ever made any real breakthroughs, I lost my life, shortly after Cody was born."

"But how… how did you get to the Digital World?"

"I never made it there as you see me now. Instead, I faced the same predicament you now face." He floated a little closer to me, fatigue in the old ghost's eyes. "When I died, the worlds were close, very close. My consciousness became data, my body becoming so too once I was buried. My data was found by Azulongmon, and he told me about the Digital World, that my wildest dreams were true." I stared in amazement as he slowly approached me. "He told me that sooner or later, my blood would help save this world, and that I would have a chance to help it, if I became a Digi-Agent."

"So you became Gennai because you knew Cody was going to become a digidestined."

"Precisely." Cody's father was floating directly in front of me now. "I became the agent directly in charge of guiding the digidestined to what they had been chosen to be as best as I could. True, there were failures along the way, but I'm only human." I looked at him confusedly. "Well… sort of."

"But why are you a ghost now?"

"Because the Digital World has become too unstable to support the Digi-Agents. I am a ghost because Armageddamon has returned; my services no longer needed or worthwhile."

"So what, is that it? We lost?"

"I guess so. All I know is that my time on this world is spent, my help now no longer of any assistance you anybody."

"So what… do you plan to do?"

"Remember when I said… that I don't know what happens when you release your data?" Mr. Hida turned around and floated away, his 'arms' behind his back.

"Yeah."

"Well, I think… that I'm ready to face whatever happens." My eyes widened. "You know James, I think that there is a God, that he is waiting for me."

"Gennai this is insanity. There has to be something we can do!"

"No James, it is over. I wish I could go and tell you what happens, but apparently I won't be able to do that. I've helped you as much as I can, and there is no more I can tell you. I hope that… I was of some service." Tears came to my eyes.

"Please no Gennai, don't go. We won't stand a chance without you." Mr. Hida's ghost began to dissipate. He turned around as he did.

"There is one last thing." I didn't say a word. "Your digivice lies in the SLED headquarters in Columbia. It is in the evidence locker. You shouldn't have a hard time finding it."

"Why are you telling me this?" I wiped the fragmented data of my tears away.

"Because… I still believe that you are not a ghost because of the worlds. I believe that whatever powers that be have but greater plans for you." Gennai's data finally dissipated and he was no more.

"Goodbye Gennai. We'll never forget you." I lowered my head before the ground finally stopped shaking completely. I looked around me and tried to figure out where I was, but couldn't tell directions because dark clouds blocked the sun. "I hope you're right; at least partially." At that moment, I felt it. My digivice was glowing in the far distance, upon the horizon, calling to me. "Heaven help me." I blasted off into the distance, my speed beyond that of any living creature. Being dead has its perks.

* * *

"Please… no… please… AH!" Jennifer woke and sat up quickly, looking around herself. Everybody was knocked out from Armageddamon's attack. There were no scars; his attack left no physical damage other than the overwhelming pain it caused. Their digivices had been left with them, the darkness gone with Armageddamon. He was nowhere to be seen. "Chris? Joey? Agumon? Kristen? Tentomon? Are you guys okay?" She got to her feet, a tingling sensation in her head. Something was different. Chris was the first to stir. 

"Ohhh man. What the hell hit me?" Jennifer ran over to him as he opened his eyes. He looked at Jennifer, blinked a few times, rubbed his eyes, and blinked some more. "Jennifer?"

"What?"

"What happened? Did you try to digivolve again or something?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your visor… I mean Kazemon's visor… it's pushed up on your head." Jennifer was a bit taken aback and stepped away as Chris stood up. She slowly reached her hand up to her head and sure enough, resting upon her hair, similar to the way my shades used to rest upon my own, was a white, metal visor: Kazemon's visor.

"How? What the…?" Jennifer could also feel a fluttering further back in her hair. She reached back and felt a small pair of wings poking out of her hair. Hanging around her neck was the Crest of Love. "What's going on?"

"I guess…" Kristen pushed herself from the ground, "that humans aren't meant to take on so much power. No human has ever actually digivolved themselves to Mega before."

"What about Takuya and all those other spirit kids?" Joey pushed up from the black ground, joining in the conversation.

"Well they were just embodying spirits, they themselves weren't actually the thing changing; the spirits were." Kristen quickly replied. "I guess when you devolved from Tempesmon, traces of energy were still left over."

"I do feel different. I feel… lighter." Jennifer closed her eyes and breathed deeply, a slight wind blew.

"Well we can figure this out later." Chris looked at Agumon as he woke up. "We have to find Armageddamon."

"Why?" Kristen looked out over the Atlantic, which now resembled the Dark Ocean; only the light was still normal, not negative. "It's like he said, we don't stand a chance. He can even control our digivices."

"We have to do something." Jennifer looked off to the south. "We're all that stands in his way."

* * *

SLED: the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. You'd think they would put a 'C' in there, but then it wouldn't make an actual word, which would be just insanity. I rocketed in front of the building, where just a few days before I had destroyed Lucemon upon it's front lawn. Now that lawn was gone, a black earth had replaced it. Life had long since passed away from the city; the nuclear plant at Savannah River Site had failed, melting down. I fought back my emotions thinking of my parents. I passed through the walls, following my digivice's call. I quickly found the evidence locker and passed through the heavy, locked, iron door. Inside, on a table by itself, was my digivice, black and white as it had always been. As I approached, static came onto the screen. A soft light emanated from it. 

"Please let me hold at least this." I reached down and picked it up, somewhat surprised that I had been able to do so. "Okay, now what?" I looked down at my digivice and I could feel a dark power like never before coming from it. "What the hell?" Suddenly, visions popped into my head, pictures of thousands, millions all dying simultaneously; all at Armageddamon's hands. Even the digital ghosts of those who had died were being taken, all being absorbed into this one deity. I could feel this power drawing upon me. "Who is left? Please tell me, there is somebody left." I looked into the screen of the digivice and could see them. Chris, Agumon, Joey, Kristen, Tentomon, and Jennifer; they were walking towards the ruins of New York. It had been crushed by Armageddamon in the blink of an eye. The ruins looked familiar, like something out of a dream, a nightmare. Then I saw him. My eyes narrowed as I watched Armageddamon flying towards them, the last humans alive: the digidestined. "I'm coming guys." The digivice took the same ghostly density as myself and I blasted through the empty building, into the sky, and off to the north.

* * *

"I can't believe that anything could do something like this." Kristen looked in awe at the destruction of New York City. 

"Believe it Kristen," Tentomon flew after his partner, "because it is what we are up against that caused this." They walked long the shattered, devastated buildings, dark clouds overhead, a cold wind blowing. Only the skeletons of the buildings remained; ruinous remains as if they had all been smitten by forces from beyond what they had ever known.

"I think we're the last ones." Jennifer looked around. "Everybody's gone. Everybody…" She shook a little at the thought.

"Mom… Dad…" Joey thought of his parents, as did everybody else. Chris looked up and turned around to his crew.

"Come on guys. We're digidestined damnit! What is always the darkest hour is always our finest! We've been in ruts before, faced darkness that seems indestructible, and always come out on top! We faced Myotismon, Lucemon, Blackwargreymon; hell, we even took on our own friends to get where we are today!" Everybody looked up, new life coming into their eyes. "Yeah, sure, it may be over. We may be done. Our existence may be just a pipe dream. But I'm not going down without a fight!" Chris pulled out his digivice. "If Armageddamon wants our data, then he's gonna have to fight for it!!!"

"YEAH!!!" Everybody let out a unanimous cheer at Chris' little speech.

"So let's do it. One last time." Chris looked down at his digivice for a moment before holding it out. "For us…"

"For mom…" Joey held out his.

"For dad…" Kristen did as well.

"For James…" Jennifer held hers out and they all closed their eyes, the digivices glowing. A few moments later, four digimon stood, ready for battle. Tempesmon, Wargreymon, Polamon, and Megakabuterimon. Chris and Kristen stood back, looking at their friends as they readied for their last battle.


	37. Ch 32: The Crest of Miracles

**Chapter 32: The Crest of Miracles**

Armageddamon landed on the street in front of the Empire State Building, looking at the four digimon that stood a block away.

"Why don't you run?" He snorted, looking with squinted eyes at them. Everybody was there, digivices and all.

"Because," Chris answered for everyone, trying to be the leader he had always wanted to be, "there is nowhere to run anymore. Our mission is to stop you and that's what we're going to do."

"Hah!" Armageddamon chuckled to himself for a few moments before finally regaining his composure. "You still think you can stop me." He took a few steps forward, but the digidestined held their ground. "I don't think you think that." He looked across the line again. "I think that you are here just so you can say you went down fighting."

"What's it to you?" Kristen yelled out from Megakabuterimon's back.

"Because I can feel your fear. It radiates from you, showing your true weakness." He held out his hand, palm open to the ground. "You can not hope to even come near me so long as any trace of evil is empowering you." He closed his fist quickly. "Devibomb!" Before the digidestined knew what was happening, blasts of dark energy ripped out of their digivices, devastating each of them. The blasts collided off of each other, blowing away the ruins of the buildings on the side of the street. When the darkness cleared, everybody lied on the ground, devolved. Armageddamon walked up until he was just a few feet away from them. "See? I'm not even trying and you don't stand a chance." He turned around, waved his hand over his shoulder, making the four digivices float after him.

"No… he can't do this." Joey looked up at his digivice, quickly flying away from him.

"I haven't even started, but your time is done." He stopped and turned around, a block away again, his back to the Empire State. "It is time to show you a small taste of my power." He waved his hand in a circle, causing the digivices to form a diamond; each one was a point: one on top, one on the left, etc. Dark energy began to flow into them.

"This looks like the end guys." Chris looked hopelessly at the four digivices, charging up in front of Armageddamon, aimed at the digidestined.

"I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough Chris." Agumon whimpered a bit, no longer trying to get up, but just lying on the ground.

"Ditto." Tentomon lied on the ground in the same semi-lethargic state as Agumon.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted…" Kristen looked, no longer shocked or scared or anything, at the digivices. Jennifer looked at the ground for a moment before whispering to herself.

"There is so much left to learn, but one more left to fight…"

"Goodbye, digi-fools." The digivices finally stopped charging. "DEMON STORM!!!" The digivices shook for a moment before unleashing four, fiery red blasts at the digidestined. The blast was huge; it wiped out the ruins along the side of the road, completely vaporizing them. Mixed in with the shot, were streams of darkness, that seemed to weave in and out. As it approached, an unusual, static field of data flew in from the south.

"No." I dived down from the air, floated between the digidestined and the approaching doom, grabbed hold of my digivice, and aimed it at the blast. The beam slammed into me, full force, curving in to focus on my digivice. I shook, my data becoming incredibly distorted from the force as it blew against me. I held the digivice tightly with both hands, determined to stop the attack that just kept coming from Armageddamon. "I won't let you hurt them."

"What the… what's happening?" Joey looked up at the blast, which was impacting what looked like a field of data in front of them. Jennifer looked at it for a moment and then looked back down. The Crest of Love was shaking and shining intensely. She thought for a moment and reached up to her head, grabbed hold of her visor, and lowered it across her eyes. It turned on by itself and showed my ghostly form, holding the shot as best as I could as I was slowly forced back.

"So… even after death you try to save them." Armageddamon could feel the presence of my presence. "I think I'll be taking your digivice now." He went to lift up his hand, but stopped in mid movement as I retorted.

"You can never hope to control mine Armageddamon. I have but one thought on my mind right now and that is to protect them. There is no darkness for you to control here."

"James?" Kristen looked at the field of data and then looked at Jennifer, who was slowly walking towards it. "Jennifer, what are you doing!? It could be a trap!"

"No, it isn't." She kept walking until she was right behind me. "James, how…?" She was in shock.

"Please, get out of here; I can't hold him much longer. Just run, forget about saving the world and just try to save yourself." Jennifer looked through the back of my head at the blast, becoming steadily more powerful.

"Before I go, there's one thing that I never got to say to you… back at the statehouse."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"I love you, too."

"What!?" I lost focus and turned around, the blast streaming clear through me. It hit Jennifer and the others head on, completely blowing their data apart in front of my eyes. My heart dropped. "NO." Armageddamon laughed hysterically at my terrible blunder.

"See James?" He didn't let up the blast. "The virtues that empowered you brought your downfall." I felt hate and rage build up inside me. I grabbed hold of my digivice, which was simply floating in the middle of the blast.

"No." The blast stopped, dissipated, but the digivices continued to float. "You're wrong." I waved my arm back and the digivices flew to me. Armageddamon did the same, but nothing happened.

"What's going on!?" He stared and growled as the digivices began to circle around me.

"These virtues: Love, Friendship, Courage, Knowledge, Hope, they're just the beginning. You see, there are many others." Lights began to swirl around me. I didn't know where I was getting this, but I just… knew. "Sincerity, Reliability, Light, Kindness, are some of the others you may know, but there are still more." More lights began to swirl with the digivices. I spoke in a voice that no longer seemed mine, like somebody was speaking through me. "Determination, Selflessness, Innocence; the list goes on Armageddamon." Finally, dozens of lights swirled about me along with the four digivices orbiting my own, which floated inside of me.

"Who are you?"

"Me? I am your match, your opposite." A deep voice echoed from within me.

"What? I am?" I spoke back to myself.

"Yes James, you are now. You became it just now." The same voice came out. It was very odd; I was arguing with myself out loud.

"Who are you?"

"I am the spirit of Azulongmon." I gasped.

"What are you doing?"

"We have decided to carry out one last mission…" Azulongmon waited a moment before continuing. "…and to finally pass away from this world."

"What!? Why!?"

"I grow weary of this!" Armageddamon began to grow impatient, but kept his distance from the spectacle, still willing to wait and see what happened.

"Because we have existed for thousands of years; it is time we passed on our tasks to another."

"Wait… you don't mean."

"Yes, I do." I looked around quickly. The digivices were charging up again, but with white light instead of darkness. "It is time that you lived up to destiny James. Long ago you wished for power to save this world, and now you shall have it."

"But why me!? I'm dead!"

"No longer." Blasts ripped out of the digivices, and the swirling lights came down in front of me, smashing into one another. I had just a split second to see the blasts of data coming from the digivices. They were the spirits, the spirits of the digi-gods. Azulongmon, Ebonwumon, Zhuquiaomon, and Baihumon all flew at me from the four digivices, slamming into mine.

"But I'm only human, I can't take this!" My data became highly distorted, waving in and out upon itself.

"Human?" My data finally came together, along with the data of the four digi-gods, reconfiguring me. I looked at my self for a moment, glowing all over with power. I looked up in front of me where the crests had finally stopped fusing. In front of me floated the Crest of Miracles. "No longer." I quickly reached out and grabbed the crest, my digivice exploding as I did. I don't mean that energy poured out of it, I mean the entire thing blew apart. A wave of energy came over me and the Crest of Miracles shined brilliantly. "DEITY DIGIVOLUTION!!!" A blast of light erupted into the sky, a blast of energy that stretched into space and on forever. Armageddamon watched, realizing what was happening.

"This can't be…" His gaze narrowed as I digivolved. It was a rush. The only way I can explain it is that it was like going down a rollercoaster at the speed of light. The power I had felt when I was Fuzenmon was nothing compared to now, as the power of the four digi-gods and the crests all came in upon me at once. I finally was able to see through the light a little and saw them.

"Show em' who's boss James!" Chris' digi-ghost yelled out at me from in front of me, but I couldn't acknowledge him while digivolving.

"We're all with you on this!" Kristen called out.

"Behind you one-hundred percent!" Joey's digi-ghost jumped into the air with a cheer.

"Kick his ass James so we can go home." Jennifer was the last to call to me as the light finally peaked. I didn't see Agumon or Tentomon and wondered where they were. The light finally collapsed in on me. I stood up and stretched.

"Deity Digivolve to… Archangemon."


	38. Ch 33: Alpha and Omega

**Chapter 33: Alpha and Omega**

"No, it can't be… you can't be here… not now…" Armageddamon shook with rage as I stood up straight.

"We have a fight to finish Armageddamon." I stood a full eight feet tall, a little shorter than Armageddamon. A red, metal headband came across my forehead, covering it completely as my hair fell over it a little. My face had aged so that I looked more like I was thirty years old than fifteen. A plate mail covered my upper body, but left my arms bare. I noticed that I was buff and wielded a long broadsword that curved out a bit at the end. A chain mail skirt-like piece of armor hung from my upper armor, covering the top of a baggy pair of blue jeans, which seemed out of place, which ended up going into a pair of heavy, steel-soled boots. Over my shoulder like a sash, was a heavy chain, which had a thick book attached to the bottom of it. Four pairs of wings had sprouted from my back, white and feathery. To top it all off, the Crest of Miracles still hung around my neck, in its tag.

"I don't care who you are, you are still nothing compared to me. You had to kill yourself to stop me back then, and I'm more than I was before."

"Whatever, I'm here to defeat you, and that is all." I dashed forward, whipped my sword up, and brought it down on Armageddamon. He sidestepped the blow and punched me in the chest. My armor let out a loud clank and I was knocked back a short ways, but quickly regained my footing. I swung again, from the side this time. Instead of dodging the sword like I had hoped, Armageddamon produced two long, one-handed axes. The handle was at least at yard or two long on each. The blade curved down from the end of it, out and then back into the handle about halfway down. The blades were black and charred looking, but were just as hard as my own sword as he blocked me with one and swung at me with the other. I jumped into the air and with a flap of my wings, took off. Armageddamon followed, unfurling his black, leathery, pair of wings.

"Running already?" Armageddamon taunted as he chased me into the sky.

"You wish." I kept flying forward, taking as deep a breath as I could as I began to leave Earth's atmosphere. We quickly passed through a field of data and were in space in a matter of moments. Armageddamon laughed as he watched me slowly letting out my air.

"The fool holds his breath. Inexperienced weakling." To my right I saw the moon, just as I had hoped.

"Lunar Crush!" I shouted and aimed my sword at the moon. A beam of light shot from it to the moon, impacted the surface, and drove deep into it. I stopped and spun around to the left until the moon finally moved out of place; it was the spiked ball at the end of my flail, the beam of light was the chain. I finally stopped and looked at Armageddamon, who was still a few miles away; I was significantly faster than he was with three more pairs of wings. I looked him in the face as he turned in time to see the moon slam into him. I stopped swinging my sword to the left and pulled right, slowing the moon down as it came back into orbit. If it was too fast it would have just floated away from the planet. I didn't see Armageddamon anywhere.

"Alright… where are you?"

"Twisting Nether!" Suddenly, the space around me turned into what seemed like black molasses. It collapsed in on me, becoming incredibly dense and pressured. I shook in pain, but held my screams as the dark energy squeezed against me. I pressed against it, trying to break free until I finally found my sword and slashed against the dark mass, ripping it in two. I broke free quickly and it dissipated behind me, but Armageddamon tackled me from the side before I could reorient myself. He grabbed hold of me, flapped his wings, and began to dive towards the planet, fire burning around us intensely as we re-entered the atmosphere. I tried to break free of Armageddamon's grip, but he was too strong. He held on until we were a few feet away from the surface, where he let go and stopped in midair instantly. Without enough time to even be surprised, I slammed into the ground, sending a huge cloud of dust and debris into the air. I lied on my back for a moment before recovering from my meteorite impression, the crater just under a half-mile wide. Smoke, dirt, ash, and rock stretched into the sky like a gargantuan volcano had erupted and the entire planet felt the same way.

"Ohhh… that hurt." I climbed to my feet and looked around, breathing a little heavier than before. "Okay, now it's my turn. Where are you?"

"Sorry, but I'm not done yet." I turned around and saw Armageddamon dive down from behind me, swinging down his axes. I brought up my sword in time to stop them, but was knocked back down, struggling to hold him back.

"You just made a big mistake…" The smoking blades inched closer and Armageddamon leaned forward, burning hatred bursting in his eyes.

"Give it up little angel. This world is already mine. Everything in it, all life and after-life, is in me, against you. Nothing can stop me—I've won." Armageddamon let out a low, contemptuous snort and laughed darkly. "You know, as soon as I'm done with you, I'm going to make sure that those digi-ghost friends of yours suffer long and hard, especially that Jennifer bitch."

"_Well, there is one per…"_

_"Your eyes… they're… brown…"_

_"I love you, too."_

_"Kick his ass James so we can go home…"_

It was all at once, blazing through my mind instantly, over and over. My broadsword glowed and I kicked Armageddamon in the chest. He stumbled away, the wind knocked out of him. I jumped up and slung my sword horizontally, slashing across his chest, clear through his black armor to his red skin. A deep cut was left and he roared. "You will never hurt them, Armageddamon, or any other being ever again." Armageddamon laughed darkly and took a deep breath. The wound healed before my eyes. "Damn."

"Now do you understand? I am invincible." He slung his axes back at me, back and forth. I continued blocking them as he attacked continuously from various angles in front of me. My sword clanged with each block, my armor rattled. My iron boots dug heavily into the ground as I steadily shifted footing, moving slowly backwards as the swordfight went on. "Just… give… up…" Armageddamon huffed as he continued his non-stop onslaught.

"If death didn't stop me," I blocked another attack, flapped my wings so that I quickly moved back, and flew a short ways into the air, "what makes you think you can? Malachi Blade!" Light charged through my broadsword and I swung down from above. Armageddamon swung his axe to block, but the broadsword cleaved through it as if it weren't even there. My sword slashed through the black armor over Armageddamon's shoulder and drove into his arm. He let out a loud roar and his arm fell away, amputated by my attack. I lifted my blade to swing at his head, but as I let fly, he ducked, opening his wings and knocking me away with them.

"You will pay for this atrocity." Armageddamon shook in pain from his lost limb as he ran up to me. "Demon Storm!" The fiery red blast came out of the palm of his open hand, racing towards me. I crouched down somewhat and held up my sword. The blast split upon it, forcing the attack around me. The attack ended and I stood back up, dashing forward towards Armageddamon.

"Malachi Blade!" I swung up, but he fell back a little. I still cut deep into his face, cleaving off one of his curled horns. He fell down and grimaced. Rage and anger flared from him as the ground began to wave from the energy he could no longer control. Black bolts shot from the dark clouds, scarring the ground around Armageddamon.

"You can't beat me… I am invincible!"

"No longer." My voice echoed. I flapped my wings and rose into the air as Armageddamon climbed to his feet. "You have caused more pain and suffering than any to have ever existed, and now you must pay the price." I pulled back my arm and flung my sword into the sky. It flew out of sight.

"So what, you're going to kill me with your hands?"

"No." I saw a spark in the distance, like a star glowing brighter. "JUDGEMENT OF THE TRINITY!!!" My sword came down and landed in Armageddamon's chest, pierced clear through him, and pinned him to the ground.

"ARGH!" A moment later the sky began to rumble. The dark clouds split wide open, revealing a starry night sky. Three blasts of light shot down from the sky, slamming into the ground around Armageddamon. The columns seemed like they held the sky, space, heaven itself up—their size dwarfed the remaining skyscraper ruins. They sat driving into the dirt for a few moments before shifting and converging on top of Armageddamon. Rock and dirt flew everywhere as light flooded across the face of the planet, dissipating the clouds overhead. The blast reached on into infinity, as heaven's fury slammed into Armageddamon. I flew down into the blast, unaffected, and looked down at Armageddamon, who writhed in pain. "This isn't right!" Armageddamon raged, trying to get up, but to no avail. "You aren't supposed to be here! You were never supposed to come! This wasn't supposed to happen!!!" Armageddamon screamed and roared.

"Good things aren't supposed to happen." I dived down and grabbed hold of my sword, still in Armageddamon's chest. "They happen when things go wrong." Armageddamon began to break up.

"I don't believe you…"

"Believe it or not." I gripped onto my sword. "For those who were, who are, who will be, for those above watching over me, be gone!" I charged one last pulse of energy down my sword and into Armageddamon, making him become unstable. Roars and screams erupted from his shaking mouth as his data drew up my sword. Wind blew out about us, kicking up more dirt and rocks as the dark deity broke apart. A final flash of light shot out from where we were as the blast from heaven peaked and finally ended. The light cleared, and Armageddamon was gone, the last trace of his data, the data of billions of people and digimon, crawled up my sword. I pulled up my sword and sheathed it.

"It's over." I looked around. The planet was a dead rock. Winds blew charred dust across the landscape of the flattened New York. Not even ruins remained. "Heaven help me in this one last thing." I focused lightly and a moment later I could feel every remaining computer on the planet click on. "I hope I survive this. System Restore!" Data poured out of me across the landscape as it quickly reconfigured to where it was before it was absorbed. Data blocked out the sky as it flooded across the planet, billions of people being instantaneously restored to where they had been. I felt their consciousness all leave me as their data went. I shook and fell to the ground, feeling my power quickly leave me, but I had to hold myself together at least long enough to finish. The data stopped flowing, and I passed out as people ran up to me.

* * *

I was lying on a bed. Exhaustion weighed on me like a sack of cinder blocks and slowly, I opened my eyes. Sunlight flowed through a window.

"Where am I?"

"You're home." Jennifer answered and I rolled my head to the side. She was standing beside the bed, looking down on me.

"You're… alive?"

"When you restored the data, you restored ours as well." Kristen spoke softly from across the room, but I didn't turn to look at her. I moved my arms a little and felt my t-shirt, but stopped checking myself when I noticed the visor on Jennifer's head.

"Hey Jen, why… how are you wearing Kazemon's visor?" She touched it lightly and gave a weak shrug.

"It's a long story. Let's just say that it's stuck, ok?" I nodded and thought back to my t-shirt.

"I devolved?" Jennifer nodded. "Heh, and Gennai said that I would never be human again."

"Well James, unless you walked around with guns, a metal headband, and had wings sprouting out your back before, I'm afraid you're wrong." I rolled my head over and saw a woman standing in front of Kristen. She wore a robe just like Gennai had and was the same height. Her face seemed tanned and her hair was in a ponytail, hanging behind her.

"Are you… a Digi-Agent?" I blinked a few times. She sighed.

"Well at least our new guardian knows a little about the Digital World." She spoke sarcastically. I thought back to what she had said a few moments before. I sat up and reached up to my head. I felt the same red, steel headband that I had when I was Archangemon… well, I sort of felt it. I was wearing a pair of large, black, ski gloves similar to my old ones, except they were made of some fabric or material that I had never seen or felt before—it was both soft and tough at the same time. Behind me, I could flap three pairs of white, feathery wings. To top it all off, the Crest of Hope was set in its tag, hanging around my neck. Other than that, my clothes were normal: blue jeans and a white t-shirt—although there were two large holes in the back of it for my wings to stick out.

"What… what's going on?" I looked up and down myself. The woman sighed again.

"James, when Gennai said you could never be human again, he wasn't kidding. You aren't and you never will be."

"But… I devolved!"

"To a weaker digimon: Humangemon. You still retain many of your human aspects, but believe me, you are a digimon." She saw the disappointment in my face. "Don't worry, it's not bad. By the way," she held out her hand to shake mine, "you can call me Angela."


	39. Ch 34: Fireworks

**Chapter 34: Fireworks**

"James, what is your… relationship with Jennifer?" Angela just seemed to pop the question on me one day while I was relaxing in my back yard. As it turned out, the System Restore had done far, far more than I had known it would. Most of the people who had died from the Daemon Corps and Armageddamon had been reconfigured right where they had been. The decimated cities had been repaired too, in better condition than before in some places. But, there were still questions. Not everybody had been reconfigured; there were numbers of people still missing across the globe, but whether they had been killed because of a digimon or otherwise was the question. The world had… broken down a bit while the Daemon Corp rampaged across the globe.

"What's it to you?" I was overjoyed to be in the company of a Digi-Agent for the first few days after I woke up, but it didn't take long for Angela to get on my nerves. While she was happy and friendly as can be with the others, it was almost like she thought me a slave. On the other hand, she had taught me all sorts of ways to use my powers and attributes.

"It's everything to me." Angela gave me a stern, commanding look, like she always did when I rebelled against her. "I'm afraid you're getting caught up in emotions and hormones."

"Of course I am! I'm a teenager; my hormones are _raging_." I laughed and leaned back on the grass, weakly hoping that she would just lay off.

"James, I forbid you to continue this with her." I let out another laugh that just ticked her off. "Humangemon! Have you any clue what the repercussions of your love for her might be?" I flinched as she shouted my 'Digimon Name' and sat up.

"Don't call me that. You know I can't stand it." Angela took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing.

"I'm sorry, but you know how I feel about your name, too. James, I'm worried that you're fooling yourself into believing that everything is back to the way it was."

"No I'm not. Things are much, much better." Our adventures had lasted almost exactly two months. A week had passed since I had woken up and it had been a few days since Chris, Kristen, and Joey had returned to their homes—it was now July 1st. Agumon and Tentomon had gone with their partners, incognito of course. There was still widespread panic that another digimon invasion would occur, so just the sight of Agumon or Tentomon would probably have the bombs dropping within minutes. Accordingly, I had to hide my own… irregularities? I had started wearing a faded, bluish-gray, button-up shirt over my wings, which were wrapped around my chest and stomach sort of like a girdle. To cover up the headband, I just let my hair grow out a little further and cover it up. Angela despised the way I tried to look normal, but she couldn't tell me to do otherwise so she just tried to ignore it.

"James, you aren't human. You will never be human again. If I just let you and Jennifer follow the regular road of love… well I'm not sure I want to go into the details of an 'intimate' digimon-human relationship." After a few seconds of letting it sink in, I let a disgusted look spread across my face. "Now do you understand?"

"You think of me just like any other digimon, don't you? Just some random creature made from data." Angela's eyes widened at the startling change of subject and she fumbled to save herself.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant at all! But James…"

"Forget it! As far as you're concerned, I'm no different than Agumon or Tentomon or any of them!" I clenched my fists and energy began running through me involuntarily. "You bitch, you're so quick to forget I'm human. I was born human, so I'll always be human. I have a childhood, a coming of age, my own tragedies and triumphs, the whole shebang. I'm not some ageless, meaningless being that exists simply because of an unforeseen consequence."

"James, please, I'm sorry…"

"And quit calling me James, you don't really mean it." With that I ran out of the backyard gate, the energy that had been building up slowly discharging as I ran, boosting me along faster.

* * *

"Oh Jennifer!" I knocked on her bedroom window, floating upside down. It was late evening and the sky was a dark violet, the moon and stars just beginning to glow. She turned and saw me, laughing at my deliberately goofy position. She ran over and opened the window, backing up quickly to give me enough space to climb through—I had to close my wings up again and catch the ledge to fit through. I landed with a soft thud and rolled to a sitting position. She had been sitting around bored, leaning back in a chair. It was summer and school was out for more than one reason. Nobody could figure out what to do about making up all the time missed; the schools had closed while the Daemon Corps had been around.

"Smooth James, really smooth." She shuffled my hair as I sat on the floor and laughed again.

"Like Sunday morning." She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I blushed; I had finally given up and decided that I would never really get the hang of myself when it came to romance.

"So what are you doing here? You know my dad would probably get his baseball bat if he saw you."

"I just wanted to come and tell you a little something, you know; just a little surprise I'm getting ready for you." The teasing, sing-song voice I spoke in snatched her attention and her face brightened.

"What is it?"

"Nope, not a word. You'll find out soon enough though. Just don't make any plans for the 4th, okay?" Jen walked over and crouched down like she was going to give me a hug, but instead I found myself in a headlock.

"Tell me"

"Neve… ouch!" She tightened her interrogation hold.

"Tell me and I'll let you go."

"You know I could probably just toss you into the air like a stuffed animal."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't do that to your girlfriend, would you?" Check and mate.

"Oh come on!" The arm that I was leaning on slipped and I fell back on her… well… right on her chest to be exact.

"Get off of me you perv!" I hadn't meant too, but I couldn't keep from turning a cherry red. Jennifer shoved me off with another laugh, but stopped short when she heard footsteps coming.

"Jennifer? Who's in there with you? It better not be that weird Walls kid…" I heard a hall closet door open and shut and knew exactly what it was for: a nice, ole, wooden Louie. Jennifer gave me a 'dear-god-we're-all-gonna-die' look and I scrambled to the window. With a single kick, I threw myself out and flapped my wings, moving over the house to pick up my folded, button-up shirt. With another flap, I was off, headed back home with my planed surprise still on my mind. Jennifer's father opened the door and looked around, only to find Jennifer leaning in her chair, back against the wall, her feet pushing her off her bed.

"What's the baseball bat for dad?" He scanned the room again, but his eyes only came back to Jennifer, who was struggling to keep herself from looking smug in victory.

"Uh-huh. I KNOW I heard voices up here."

* * *

"Soooo, Christopher, Chris-ta-macho, Chris-ayia, my main man Chris… did you do what I asked?" I was tossing and catching a superball against the wall of my room, the phone held in my other hand. Hooray for unlimited long-distance!

"Yeah, but I'm not helping you any 'less you promise to never, EVER, call me all that crap again." I could hear Agumon shout at a video game in the background.

"Chris, don't you have a controller made for claws?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I promise. Exactly when does it start?"

"8:30 PM, but I'm not so sure about this. If I get caught with bottle rockets…" A brown, paper bag crinkled on the other end of the line and Chris just stopped in mid-sentence. "Are you sure this is even legal?"

"Of course it is… I think." Chris let out a broken, nervous moan. "Just chill out! Everything is fine, whether it's legal or not. Now remember, all you and Agumon have to do tomorrow night is start firing them off at 8:30 and I'll take care of the rest. It isn't like you're handling a professional fireworks show—I'm the one that's gonna be editing explosives over a city of what, thousands, millions of people?"

"What if the cops show up? And what about my parents! Legal or not, I know they won't like the idea of me and bottle rockets. Hell, I already have destructive ideas running through my head about what to do with them!"

"Don't worry; the only people that will see or hear them will be me, you, Agumon, and Jennifer. And you forget, there will be fireworks displays all over town, like the Hollywood Bowl for example." Chris opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. An eerie and uncomfortable moment of silence passed before he spoke again, a loud explosion sounding off from the video game in the background.

"Yeah! All right! I'm the best!" Agumon's cheers were so loud that Chris had to kick him to remind him to stay quiet.

"Why exactly did you get a hotel room, though? Why not just go to a fireworks display already set up?"

"Because this is more romantic and the fireworks will be a LOT more powerful than anything anybody else will be using." Chris let out the sarcastic laugh of triumph that I had almost thought he had forgotten how to do.

"Are you planning to end the date the way I think you are, Romeo?"

"What the hell are you talking abo… OHHHH!!! What!? Chris, you S-O-B!"

"You know it's on your mind." I could just imagine the smirk on his face.

"The hell it was! Jeez, thank god you're not the one with wings or Angela would have to chain, shackle, jail you, and throw away the key!"

"The majority of teenagers do it before high school's over…"

"I am going to murder you in your sleep; you know that, right?"

"It was worth it." Chris let out a laugh and hung up.

* * *

"James, if you don't take this stupid blindfold off right now, I'm going to make Armageddamon look NICE." It was eight o'clock in the evening on the 4th of July. With one tug, the blindfold fell off from Jen's eyes. We were on the very top floor of the Hollywood Roosevelt—the hotel we had stayed in when we first got to Los Angeles back during our journeys. An elegant table for two was set up on a spacious balcony overlooking the city of Los Angeles. The sky was crystal clear and the lights sparkled all the way to the ocean. Jennifer's eyes widened and she nearly collapsed. "Holy smack."

"Hey, that's my line!" She did a triple take between me and the get-up before looking around the room. Needless to say, the hotel room was friggin huge.

"HOW DID YOU DO THIS!!?" She jumped up and hugged me and I laughed.

"Oh, I've got connections." Not really. It had cost a pretty penny to pay for the room and the advanced room service… a pretty, imaginary penny. With just the right hacking, and just the right focusing, a little bit of cash had appeared from no where in a bank account that had appeared from no where. I get a romantic date, the bank gets a patron, the hotel gets money; good for me, good for the economy, good for everybody! It's amazing the shizz you learn when you're evil!

"I… I… hold on a second…" Jennifer leaned on a chair while she caught her breath. "You did all this!?" I nodded and she walked out on the balcony, letting her hand glide along the tablecloth as if it wasn't real. "James… I…"

"Not a word. It ain't often I'm all suave and romantic like this so you'd better get it while the getting's good." We sat down and started eating dinner. I had left the dish to the choice of the chef and I guess we got what we deserved—noodles. Well, spaghetti actually, but it's a type of noodle so, close enough. Chit-chat, laughter, really cheesy looks that belong only in a chick-flick, it was a good time. We finished eating right before 8:30.

"James, this is… too unreal."

"Oh," I stood up from my chair as I felt the first bottle rockets launch from afar, "you haven't seen a thing." My gloves glowed and the wind came to a complete stop. An instant later, the rocket exploded in a ring of brilliant color that stretched across the sky. Jennifer looked like her jaw was ready to drop any moment. After a minute of intense focusing, I had it set up so the rockets would super-blow by themselves. Jennifer got out of the chair and slowly walked to the balcony rail, gazing into the bursts of color and light.

"So, what do you think? Pretty good for a first-timer, or is it too flashy? I think…" Jennifer cut me off and I found myself lip-locked with her. There was a moment hesitation, but then… well… I can't explain it and I'm not sure I would want to if I could. It was like all my inhibitions and thoughts had just taken a nose dive off the balcony. My mind cleared and I couldn't think a single thing. We both sort of stumbled to the side and knocked the table out of the way as the 'Grand-Finale' started going off. Back into and across the hotel suite, and into the bedroom; I kicked the door closed with one foot and I'll just leave it at that.


	40. Ch 35: Humangemon's Farewell

**Chapter 35: Humangemon's Farewell**

"Hi ho, la de da, do re me, ho hey hey" I goofily glided across the kitchen floor back in my house while my dad watched with a single eyebrow raised. Jennifer and I had flown back first thing in the morning after… ahem… well… yeah.

"Well, somebody's in an awfully good mood this morning." He poured himself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. The only people that knew about my change were Angela, the other Digidestined, and my parents. It had been really awkward at first, but they usually treated me like they always had, although my dad had convinced Angela that 'hard labor' was a good form of training.

"Good morning, good morning, it's a wonderful day ha ha!" I mocked the song my parents would sing off-key to get me out of bed when I was younger and laughed. "It is a beautiful day, isn't it? The sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's already eighty friggin degrees… man, it's a great day to alive. Oh yeah."

"James, if I didn't know better…" He stopped and looked at his coffee, took a sip, and just shook his head. "James, should I keep talking or just walk away from a potentially aggravating situation?"

"Don't worry dad; I'm not drugged up or anything so you can chill." I glanced at the clock and waltzed out the door to the back yard. "Well, I've got some work to do. See ya later sensei!"

"Teenagers…"

* * *

"Humangemon, over here." Angela called to me and I flew over.

"Stop calling me that." I landed on the grass and looked down. "Damn, how'd we miss that spot?" A deep valley between two peaks was still black and dead. I focused light into my hands and blasted the ground, healing it as fast as I could. When I was done, I flew back up to the peak that Angela stood upon. We were overlooking a deep valley somewhere in Europe. I had flown and Angela had her own Mekanorimon for transportation.

"Okay then… James, there is something I need to tell you." I landed and brushed my gloved hands together, little bits of dirt and grass falling from them.

"What now? Listen to the wind? Flow, not focus?"

"No, it isn't about your training; it is about why you are training."

"Yeah, I've been wondering about why you're making me learn all these things." I stretched my wings and floated on my back in the air, a little trick that I had come to love. I could lie back like I was in a hammock whenever I wanted.

"The worlds are finally beginning to pull back apart." Angela looked out over the valley that I had just fixed. Wind blew her ponytail over her shoulder and she threw it back.

"Yeah… so? Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yes, for most." She turned and looked at me. "James, data can't survive independently in a physical form in this world."

"So what, you'll have to go back to the Digital World? I'll make it on my own."

"No James, I mean WE will have to go back." I dropped out of the air and landed on my back.

"What do you mean?"

"I've been telling you and trying to get it into your dense head that you aren't human, that you're a digimon now. When the worlds separate, you'll be drawn back into the Digital World… permanently."

"You're lying."

"I'm afraid not Humangemon."

"Quit calling me that!" Tears welled up in my eyes. I had to leave? I had to abandon everything I had ever known?

"Retaining your human name will only make it harder on you when you leave." I wiped the tears from my eyes and looked at the Digi-Agent. I couldn't help but hate her for keeping her cool.

"How long do I have until the worlds separate?"

"Well, they have already begun." I looked away and began to breathe faster. "It's been months since Armageddamon was defeated and nothing is holding them back anymore. I'd assume that any data still physically in this world will be drawn back soon."

"How soon!?" I was getting frustrated. I wanted to know how much longer I had in the real world.

"I don't know… maybe about a week? Possibly a few days. We won't know until it actually happens." I sat down and let my face fall into my hands. I didn't want to go. "I'm sorry Humangemon, but you have to go. When the worlds get far enough apart you'll be pulled there automatically. Besides, we need you in the Digital World."

"Why?" My voice was muffled by my gloves.

"Because the digi-gods are gone and you are their replacement. Remember what Azulongmon said to you before he gave you his data? That he was passing his tasks on to you?"

"Yeah…" I sniffled.

"Well, his tasks were to look over the Digital World. That's your job now."

"But I don't want that job." I stood up and looked away.

"You don't have a choice." Her voice became more firm. "It is your destiny."

"Screw destiny." I finally ticked Angela off.

"Quit acting like a child and grow up!" Her voice seemed to echo off the walls of the valley and I was a bit taken aback. "For one that has faced the greatest of all evils and saved existence, you sure are a baby!" I exhaled and sat back down.

"It's just that," I took a deep breath, "I'm never going to see any of my friends or my family again." I thought to myself. "Or Jennifer…"

"I know it is hard but the pain will fade." She patted me on the back like she was my mom. "You'll get used to it." I looked at the ground and kicked a rock off the edge of the cliff to the valley.

* * *

"Jennifer!" I yelled up at her bedroom window. "Jennifer! Wake up!" It was around nine o'clock and the full moon lit up Jennifer's backyard. I picked up a small rock and threw it up at the window. I underestimated my own strength and broke it. I could hear Jennifer jump and yell from inside, shocked.

"AHHH! What the hell!?"

"Sorry! I'll fix it! I swear!" I focused and the data around the window rearranged, fixing it in seconds. "See!" Jennifer walked over to the bedroom window and opened it. She leaned out and looked down at me, since there was no screen on it.

"What are you doing down there? Come on up, my dad's out of town!" She smiled and waved at me to come in.

"But it's more romantic like this!"

"What?" She leaned on the edge and looked back down at me. "What's more romantic?"

"This…" I pulled out a guitar. "I've been practicing."

"That's so sweet." Jennifer spoke softly.

"I spent hours trying to find the right song to say what I want to say and finally found it." I strummed the guitar a little and started playing. "My voice is a little deep for this but…"

_"I'm not a perfect person  
As many things I wish I didn't do  
__But I continue learning  
__I never meant to do those things to you  
__And so I have to say before I go  
__That I just want you to know…"___

"I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
_A reason to start over new  
__And the reason is you!!!"_

As I played through the song, Jennifer just leaned on the windowsill smiling. I looked up at her, in a mix of joy and sorrow.

_"I'm sorry that I hurt you  
It's something I must live with everyday__  
And all the pain I put you through  
__I wish that I could take it all away  
__And be the one who catches all your tears  
__That's why I need you to hear…"_

I began to focus as I played and sung, causing the music to echo off of nothing.

_"I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
__A reason to start over new  
__And the reason is You!  
__And the reason is You!!  
__And the reason is You!!!  
__And the reason is YOU!!!"_

I began to wake up the neighbors and they looked out their windows to see what was going on. I felt on top of the world as I sang ever stronger.

_"I'm not a perfect person  
I never meant to do those things to you  
__And so I have to say before I go  
__That I just want you to know…"___

"I've found a reason for me  
To change who I used to be  
_A reason to start over new  
__And the reason is you!"___

"I've found a reason to show  
A side of me you didn't know  
_A reason for all that I do  
__And the reason is you…"_

I stretched the last note out for what seemed like forever and when I stopped I looked to the window, not exactly knowing what to expect.

"James… that was beautiful…"

"I mean every word." Jennifer looked like she was about to swoon, but then her intelligence got the best of her.

"Wait… what do you mean every word?" She looked at me.

"I have to go Jen."

"Go where?" I just looked down at the ground. I built up my courage and choked out an answer.

"To the Digital World. The worlds are splitting and I'm… just data in the wind."

"Don't be silly." Her eyes lit up in relief. "You are not. You're the same James we've always known." She cut herself off. "Well… almost."

"I'm afraid he isn't being silly Jennifer." Angela was standing by the corner of the house, arms crossed, surprising both of us. She always seemed to come in at the worst time. "He's a digimon now and as all digimon must do, he will be returned to the Digital World once the worlds are separate." She looked up. "Which I'm afraid is now." I quickly turned and looked at Angela. I stood up straight.

"You're kidding me." My heart began to beat faster. "I thought I still had tons of time! I haven't even said goodbye to the others! Or Mom and Dad!"

"I'm sorry Huma…"

"MY NAME IS JAMES DAMNIT!!!" I threw down the guitar and screamed at Angela. "THE WORLDS CAN WAIT, I'M NOT DONE YET!!!"

"Don't worry about it James." I turned and looked back to Jennifer. She looked depressed. "I'll… explain everything to them."

"Jen…" The ground began to rumble as a rift opened in the sky. I could feel a light pulling sensation and I fought against it. Angela let herself get lifted to it. Tears began to run down Jennifer's face. "I don't want to leave everybody though. I don't want to leave… well… you." I still felt nervous about telling her things like that, but I didn't know why.

"Don't worry about me. I'll get by. I just want you to promise me something." The pulling became intense and I was pulled into the air. I flapped my wings against the rift and held onto Jennifer's windowsill as I passed it.

"What?"

"Don't forget about me." The pulling was insane and I struggled to stay. I finally decided now or never. I grabbed hold of Jennifer and kissed her one last time, for as long as I could. I was finally pulled away and looked down at a somewhat shocked Jennifer.

"I won't." We were both in tears. She watched as I was quickly pulled toward the massive rift that split the sky. As I neared the rift I screamed out a few last words. "I'll be back someday!!!"

Someday… one day…

And well… that's my story.


	41. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"I don't know what you're so worried about mom; I'm feeling much better now." Jennifer sat moodily in the doctor's office with her mom right beside her.

"Jennifer, I love you, but I know the signs. You've been throwing up and your mood's been swinging like a child at a park." Jennifer rolled her eyes.

"Mom, I'm not pregnant. Just watch, the doctor will come back in and tell you that you're wasting your time, that I just ate some bad food and that I'm on my period." As if on cue, the doctor walked in with a manila folder in his hand. He sat down behind his desk and rested his hand on his knuckles, glancing back and forth between Jennifer and her mother. The silence went like this for what seemed forever.

"Well… Jennifer… ahem... um… let's see… how should I go about this…" Both Jennifer's eyes and her mother's grew wide. Jennifer simply choked on words and her mother rubbed her face with her hands, unsure of what to do.

* * *

The waves crashed and rolled upon each other, the maelstrom above tormenting the ocean below. There were no digimon around save one. Deep, deep below the seas that separated the continents of Server and Driver, resting calmly, quietly upon the ocean bed, was him.

The shadow of what looked like a small, two-headed creature shifted from within the glass-like crystal. As the being within the jewel of evil rested, rebuilding his power, above the waves cracked and rolled on. It was of no matter to them that miles away, drawn by an unmistakable, yet unidentifiable call, stood an angel-like figure on the beaches of Driver.

"Who are you?"

* * *

**Notes from the Author**

Well, I didn't really change too much plot-wise until these last two chapters. I added an entirely new chapter and the epilogue is completely different from the old one, which by the way isn't written by James—he doesn't know. The middle still feels a little awkward, but I'm not changing this anymore unless some huge, terrible mistake that threatens the existence of existence comes up… then I MIGHT think about it. I wanna get back to writing Evolution. Special thanks to:

**Senagirl –** Well, for about a moment I was about the drop the whole "The Reason" thing altogether since the chapter before was so gushy (gag), but since I know you really liked it, and I couldn't think of how to change the farewell and keep it sad, I kept it. I hope you like the new ending!

**ShadowBeast1 –** Well… it has gotten a few more reviews since I renovated it.

**Raziel –** Oh don't worry, I'll probably be writing stories for quite some time. You should see how much my English grades have changed from all the practice! I'm not about to kill a good thing! Ha ha!

**Shadic the Hedgehog, Author –** Hey, if anybody wants to write the check and buy the rights, I'm all ears for that. Thanks for the support!

**Rikui –** Yay homework. I feel for ya. I have to build a "projectile launcher" for physics class so I'm spending a lot of my time messing with my dad's tools making a sort of slingshot. I just hope it works. Wait a minute… back on subject… the story, that's right. Thanks for the review!

**AuroranWings –** It's a friggin novel for crying out loud, take your time. Although… you reviewed way back in October...

**Evan –** Blunt, aren't we? Yeah, yeah, I'll rewrite it when I get the right motivation and mood. I tried writing it twice when it felt more like and obligation than something I wanted to do and both times it didn't come out like I wanted, so you're just gonna have to wait, sorry! Although, it's nice to know somebody's demanding it.

**Pyroguy –** I don't know why, but villains are so much easier to make hate-able than it is to make heroes like-able, at least for me. Oh yeah, you haven't updated your own story in a while (52004). Why not?

**Dragon-Grrrrl –** I pulled you back in, mwa ha ha. You are trapped forever now… wait… maybe not. Oh well. Like I said with the anonymous Evan up there, I was writing it to obligation, not to personal wishes—so I took it down. I found myself digging a hole that was just way to hard to cohesively get out of and I could already see myself writing towards disaster. But now, with a new ending, I've thrown in a whole new factor to work with, so when I eventually do come back to this series (after I finish Evolution), I should be able to make it really good and the way I want it.

Well, that's it for revising the first fanfic I ever wrote. Already I look back on it and think, wow that was a while ago. It's almost a year old! Thanks for your support and I hope you enjoyed:

**Digimon Ages Part I: Digimon Legends**

**To be continued…**


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